Platinum miner Lonmin was among the heaviest fallers on the second-tier FTSE 250 index on Friday afternoon following some bearish comments by UBS this morning.

The Swiss broker slashed its target price for Lonmin's shares from 260p to 240p and reiterated its 'sell' recommendation on the back of lower estimated production figures and higher costs. Analysts said that the stock is expected to be "volatile" during the period of the ongoing rights issue.

Precious metals group Hochschild Mining was also under the weather after saying that it now expects to get the construction permits for its Inmaculada and Crespo projects in the second half of 2013 following delays by the Peruvian government.

As announced in August with its first-half results, Hochschild said that due to changes made by Peru to the submission requirements for construction permits will (together with the number of industry applications being processed) "lead to a longer-than-anticipated permitting process".

Mortgage provider Paragon Group of Companies was continuing to make gains following its full-year results on Tuesday in which it unveiled record profits and a 50% rise in the dividend.

Retailers were also performing well today with Home Retail and SuperGroup among the best performers.

Seymour Pierce reiterated its 'buy' rating for SuperGroup today, saying that although shares have had a good run over the last year - partly due to a sector re-rating - "it is still good value considering the operational gearing in the earnings and expected step-up in the earnings growth rate over the medium term".


FTSE 250 - Risers
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 231.90p +3.57%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 110.50p +3.37%
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 249.30p +3.02%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 109.90p +2.23%
Chemring Group (CHG) 234.20p +2.18%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 366.90p +1.94%
Supergroup (SGP) 620.50p +1.89%
TR Property Inv Trust (TRY) 162.90p +1.81%
Catlin Group Ltd. (CGL) 477.70p +1.77%
Bumi (BUMI) 264.40p +1.77%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Kenmare Resources (KMR) 30.91p -4.48%
Lonmin (LMI) 290.10p -3.01%
RPS Group (RPS) 209.60p -2.83%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 745.50p -2.55%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 476.40p -2.24%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 72.85p -2.21%
Savills (SVS) 428.30p -2.21%
Dialight (DIA) 1,088.00p -2.16%
COLT Group SA (COLT) 102.60p -2.10%
Grainger (GRI) 111.50p -1.76%

BC

Related share prices
Lonmin (LMI) share price
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) share price
Home Retail Group (HOME) share price
Hochschild Mining (HOC) share price
Supergroup (SGP) share price