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FTSE 100 Index rises as Herencia gets in the money

Published: 14:00 07 Jun 2016 BST

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Herencia Resources PLC (LON:HER) was the small-cap world's rising star in lunchtime trading while the FTSE 100 index moved higher.

Shares in Herencia advanced 0.01p, or 36.4%, to 0.0375p as it executed legally binding term sheets with two shareholders, the Australian Special Opportunity Fund (Lind Partners) and Oriental Darius Co. Ltd to advance it up to US$150,000 for working capital.

Chile-focused Herencia has the Picachos and Guamanga copper projects and the 70% owned Paguanta Project, a high grade silver-zinc-lead project in northern Chile.

Financing news also boosted US-focused iodine producer Iofina plc (LON:IOF) and Central Rand Gold Limited (LON:CRND).

Iofina announced a new debt restructuring deal which also sees it secure an additional US$10mln of funding.

Shares added more than 11% to stand at 20p a pop.

And CRG ticked up 20% to 3p on news of a bridge funding facility with Bergen Global Capital.

FTSE AIM 100 was up 12.6% at 3,516, while the FTSE AIM All share gained 2.3% to stand at 745.66.

Meanwhile, the bigger Footsie gained 18.5 points to stand at 6,291.9 at the time of writing.

Another standout junior was bioplastics group Symphony Environmental Technologies plc (LON:SYM), which rose 8.5% to 6.38p as it signed a three-year deal with Pakistan International Airways to convert the airline's plastic packaging into d2w biodegradable plastic.

PIA is the first airline in the world to convert all of its flexible plastics to d2w oxo-biodegradable technology, so it's a significant deal.

Independent Oil & Gas PLC (LON:IOG) pared an earlier 15% gain but still stood 2% higher at 18.75p as the market cheered news that it plans to drill the Skipper appraisal well in the UK North Sea during next month.

Life sciences group ValiRx Plc (LON:VAL) rose 2.4% to 9.72p as it issued a quarterly update, saying it was to broaden the phase I/II clinical trial of its lead cancer drug VAL 201 to speed up the dose expansion stage.

The enlargement will allow it to complete the prostate cancer trial within the projected and regulatory-agreed time frame.

ValiRx added it has also started preparatory work on a full efficacy study (phase III) of the drug in prostate cancer treatment.

But farming supplier Plant Health Care PLC (LON:PHC) fell 6.5% to 47p despite reporting progress in developing biological products to boost crop yields.

Britain's blue chips headed north, pushing aside any Brexit fears, and taking the cue from higher markets in Asia and across the Pond overnight after Fed chair Janet Yellen hinted a rate rise this month was not likely.

The oil price is also higher, with Brent crude up 1.1% to US$51.11 at the time of writing.

Shell shares (LON:RSDB) ticked over 2.7% higher to 1,758.5p as the energy titan revealed it expected to “achieve and exceed the US$3.5bn synergies prospectus commitment earlier than expected" in it e merger with the giant gas group BG (LON:BG.)

PREVIEW

The FTSE 100 is expected to follow on yesterday’s positive trading, to open slightly higher on Tuesday.

It was the mining sector that helped London’s bluechip benchmark rise on Monday, and after the close US stocks pushed on.

Wall Street last night marked another positive day. The Dow Jones gained 113 points, 0.64%, to end Monday at 17.920 while the S&P 500 added 0.49% to 2,109 and the Nasdaq gained 0.53% to 4,968.

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng moved around 1.3% higher to 21,300, and the Shanghai Composite nudged slightly higher.

Here in London, spreadbetting and CFD group IG Markets sees the FTSE 100 about 6 points higher at 6,288 to 6,290 about half an hour ahead of Tuesday’s open.

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