Spectris was in the bottom spot, pushed lower by Panmure Gordon after it downgraded the stock from buy to hold and in spite of Investec's decision to upgrade it to buy. Investec said that although the company has trimmed is growth expectations, 'management, at all levels, is certainly capable of coping with gradually changing rates of market growth, supported by development initiatives'.

Devro, a sausage casing supplier, was a significant faller after warning that full-year operating profits will be slightly below expectations, although still ahead of last year.

Trading systems developer Fidessa fell after warning persistent challenges in the financial markets weighed on third-quarter equity market volumes; the on-going pressure means that full-year revenue is likely to be unchanged from the year before.

Meanwhile, Essar Energy is reportedly in talks with the Sudan government about carrying out maintenance work on its capacity at two of its refineries. The contract is said to be worth around £1bn.

Also on the up was African Barrick Gold's (ABG's) after all the necessary approvals were made for its acquisition of Aviva Mining Kenya, otherwise known as AMKL. The deal, which was first announced in July, will see ABG acquire all the outstanding share capital of AMKL for an initial cash consideration of A$20m, made payable to Aviva Corporation. A further A$10m will be paid on the receipt of certain resource estimate targets.


FTSE 250 - Risers
Homeserve (HSV) 240.80p +4.24%
Essar Energy (ESSR) 137.60p +4.08%
NMC Health (NMC) 187.60p +3.65%
Playtech Ltd. (PTEC) 413.30p +2.53%
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 275.70p +2.34%
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 488.50p +2.33%
Diploma (DPLM) 455.00p +2.22%
Heritage Oil (HOIL) 207.00p +2.02%
Carillion (CLLN) 308.30p +1.98%
Michael Page International (MPI) 381.40p +1.98%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Spectris (SXS) 1,700.00p -4.44%
William Hill (WMH) 345.00p -3.50%
Devro (DVO) 324.40p -3.45%
Afren (AFR) 139.60p -3.39%
Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 532.00p -3.10%
Regus (RGU) 103.60p -3.09%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 104.00p -3.08%
Drax Group (DRX) 516.50p -3.00%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 279.80p -2.75%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,335.00p -2.70%

NR

Related share prices
Spectris (SXS) share price
Devro (DVO) share price
Fidessa Group (FDSA) share price
African Barrick Gold (ABG) share price
Essar Energy (ESSR) share price