(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,514.73 0.41%

Shore Capital upgraded Close Brothers on Friday to 'buy' from 'hold' and lifted the price target to 495p from 490p as it pointed to favourable risk versus reward.

Harbour Energy was in focus after founder EIG said it had sold its remaining stake in the oil company via a secondary placing of 54.77 million shares to institutional investors by way of an accelerated bookbuild. The 3.5% stake was placed at 205p a share with gross proceeds of £112m.

Johnson Matthey said on Friday that it has now received regulatory approval from China for the sale of its Catalyst Technologies business to Honeywell.

The company announced last May that it had agreed to sell the CT business to Honeywell for £1.8bn. It said at the time that the deal would deliver net proceeds of around £1.6bn, of which £1.4bn would be returned to shareholders after completion.

Johnson Matthey said that following the sale, it would be "repositioned as a highly streamlined group focused on Clean Air and PGMS, driving sustained strong cash generation to support attractive ongoing returns to shareholders".

FTSE 250 - Risers

Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 299.40p 6.34%

Close Brothers Group (CBG) 434.20p 6.23%

Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,999.00p 4.33%

RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 2,875.00p 3.60%

Pan African Resources (PAF) 104.90p 3.55%

AEP Plantations (AEP) 157.00p 3.29%

Seraphim Space Investment Trust (SSIT) 194.40p 3.18%

Foresight Group Holdings Limited NPV (FSG) 467.00p 3.09%

Vesuvius (VSVS) 465.00p 3.06%

Balfour Beatty (BBY) 893.50p 2.76%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 177.70p -5.61%

Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 119.90p -3.07%

Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 625.00p -2.95%

Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,190.00p -2.70%

Hansa Investment Company Limited (DI) (HAN) 330.00p -2.37%

Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 849.00p -2.33%

PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPH) 1,626.00p -2.29%

Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 400.00p -2.06%

North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 415.00p -1.89%

Kainos Group (KNOS) 787.50p -1.81%