Berkeley promoted to FTSE 100 index, replaces Weir Group

By Atul Prakash LONDON (Reuters) - London-focused housebuilder Berkeley Group has pushed valve and pump maker Weir Group out of Britain's blue-chip FTSE 100 index <.FTSE>, global index provider FTSE Russell said on Wednesday, following sharp moves in their share prices. Getting into the FTSE 100 can often fuel further demand for a company's shares, since funds that track the FTSE or invest in the index can then add that stock to their portfolio. The rankings are decided on market capitalisation. Firms with the lowest market cap in the FTSE 100 drop into the FTSE 250 mid-cap index <.FTMC> every quarter, and companies with the highest market cap on the FTSE 250 get promoted into the top index. Shares in Berkeley Group, which operates at the high end of the property market, have surged 35 percent due to its strong performance. It posted a pretax profit of 539.7 million pounds ($826.23 million) in the year through April, much above the 470.1 million forecast in a Reuters poll. The group has said that the number of homes it builds is expected to increase by roughly 20 percent in the year through April 2017. In contrast, Weir Group shares have fallen about 27 percent in 2015. It posted a 40 percent fall in first-half pretax profit as it struggled with a slump in U.S. oil and gas drilling activity. Berkeley shares closed 2.3 percent higher on Wednesday, while Weir Group ended nearly 1 percent lower. Among other changes, Sophos Group , a provider of cloud-enabled end-user and network security solutions, has joined the FTSE 250 mid-cap index. Circassia Pharmaceuticals , a UK-based speciality biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of immunotherapies, and P2P Global , which invests in credit assets originated by online lenders, have also entered Britain's mid-cap share index. The companies leaving the FTSE 250 index are: South Africa-focused platinum producer Lonmin , marine engineering services provider James Fisher & Sons and Engineering supply group Premier Farnell . The changes to the FTSE 100 and 250 indexes will take effect at the start of trading on Sept. 21. ($1 = 0.6532 pounds) (Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Mark Heinrich)