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Epic & Msn data

Epic	ASX
Time:	11:12:00
Mid Price:	2907.05
Change Today:
Change % Today:
Fifty Two Week High:
Fifty Two Week Low:
Market Capital:

Period & price data

Period	Price
Now:	2907.05
3 Months ago:
6 Months ago:
1 Year ago:

Additional information

Additional	Information
Market:	All Share Index
Sector:	General Mining
Epic:	ASX
News:	Latest news
Web Site:	UK Market Wrap
Other Articles:	19-03-201019-03-201018-03-2010

Gold, Silver and Platinum inch higher, lift miners but FTSE 100 flat as financials slide

Overview: the UK’s CIPS/Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index for September showed an improvement to 55.3 from 54.1, beating the expected 54.5, yet failing to lift the blue chip index, which was almost unchanged from the opening level at midday. Mining stocks were on the rise, boosted by the recovering metals prices and upgrades of BHP Billiton (BLT), Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) and Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) to “buy” by Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS). However, the sector’s early gains were outweighed by the losses incurred by financial stocks with insurers Aviva (LSE: AV) and Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) emerging as the leading fallers in the FTSE 100 along with banking group Barclays (LSE: BARC). Food manufacturer Unilever (LSE: ULVR) also showed up among the leading fallers with a loss of about 1.2%. With the exception of BP (LSE: BP), no other FTSE 100 constituent lost 1% or more in the morning.

Not all financial stocks were in decline. RBS and insurer RSA (LSE: RSA) emerged as the top risers in the FTSE 100 with gains of 3.2% and 4% respectively. Diversified miner ENRC (LSE: ENRC) was the top risers with a 4.2% climb. Home improvement group Kingfisher (LSE: KGF) also made it to the leaderboard, which was otherwise stacked with miners.

Stock index futures in the US improved, pointing to a higher start on Wall Street ahead of the Institute of Supply Management survey, which will be released at 3 PM London time.

Commodities

Oil prices continued sliding this morning. November Brent Crude was down to US$67.42/barrel, while US light, sweet crude for November delivery declined to US$69.26/barrel.

BP (LSE: BP) was down 1%, while fellow supermajor Shell (LSE: RDSB) started the day with marginal declines, as did other FTSE 100 constituents BG Group (LSE: BG) and Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW).

Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) and Petrofac (LSE: PFC) climbed more than 1%.

In the FTSE 250, Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) lost 1%, but fellow midcaps Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) and Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) were in the black with Dana adding less than 1%, while Heritage climbed 2%.

Atlantic Canada operating oil and gas group Enegi Oil (AIM: ENEG) led the sector with a 24% hike. Iraq and Algeria operating Gulf Keystone Petroleum (AIM: GKP) also did well, rising 8%. Europe focused oil and gas developer Ascent Resources (AIM: AST) added 3%.

EU operating Rome-based oil junior Mediterranean Oil & Gas (AIM: MOG) headed in a different direction, sliding almost 6%. Latin America focused Gold Oil (AIM: GOO) and North American focused oil & Gas junior, Pantheon Resources (AIM: PANR) both shed over 2%.

Miners rise as Gold and Silver pick up

Gold was steady at US$1,004/oz, while Silver moved up to US$16.21/oz. Platinum improved to US$1,279/oz.

Buoyed by higher metals prices, all major miners were on the rise today.

Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) led the blue chips with a 2.7% climb. Gold producer Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) added less than 1%, while platinum miner Lonmin (LSE: LMI) tacked on 2.2%.

Specialty chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT) rose marginally.

Gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSEL POG) led the FTSE 250, adding 2.7%. Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) rose 1.8%, while silver miner Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) was up 1.1%.

Juniors didn’t show much movement in early trade. Africa operating gold and platinum miner Goldplat (AIM: GDP) was one of the top performers with a gain of 4.7%. Canada based junior gold developer Rambler Metals and Mining Plc (AIM: RMM) and Philippines focused gold producer Medusa Mining (AIM&ASX: MML) were up by over 2%.

Uzbekistan focused gold miner Oxus Gold (AIM: OXS) and Argentina focused gold explorer Patagonia Gold (AIM: PGD) were among the leading fallers with losses of over 7%. Copper and gold miner EMED Mining (AIM: EMED), Fiji focused gold miner Vatukoula Gold Mines (LSE: VGM) and South Africa and Botswana operating diamond miner Firestone Diamonds (AIM: FDI) all lost more than 2.5%.

Strong Copper and Nickel bolster mining stocks

Copper moved up to US$2.67/pound, while Nickel improved to US$7.78/pound. Zinc inched higher to US$0.841/pound.

Diversified mining group Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) was in the lead with a 4.4% gain. Copper miners Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) and Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) followed, climbing over 3%. Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) was up 3%.

Xstrata (LSE: XTA), Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) and Anglo American (LSE: AAL) all added more than 2%.
The world’s largest miner BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT) rose 1.5%.

London's only listed pure iron ore producer and FTSE 250 constituent, Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) improved 2.1%.
Juniors were little moved in the morning.

Laterite nickel specialist European Nickel (AIM: ENK) was in decline, shedding 4%. Indonesia operating coal miner Churchill Mining (AIM: CHL) and copper and nickel explorer Regency Mines (AIM: RGM) shed over 3%.

Banks, insurance, private equity

Banks were mixed this morning. Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) was the leading riser with a gain of 4%. Fellow bailed out bank Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) added 1.3%, while Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) rose marginally.

But Barclays (LSE: BARC) and HSBC (LSE: HSBA) opened with marginal declines.

Major insurance stocks also headed in different directions in early trade.

RSA Insurance Group (LSE: RSA) was in the lead, climbing 4%. Prudential (LSE: PRU) was up 1.4%, while Old Mutual (LSE: OML) added 1%. Standard Life (LSE: SL) was flat.

Aviva (LSE: AV), which just announced the sale of a minority stake in Delta Lloyd, declined 2%. Friends Provident (LSE: FP) was down 1%, while Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) shed less than 1%.

Private equity group 3i (LSE: III) rose marginally.

Large and Mid Cap News

FTSE 250 constituent Chemring Group (LSE: CHG) announced that its US subsidiary, Kilgore Flares, had secured a significant contract to supply decoy flares to the US Department of Defence.   Kilgore is based out of Toone, Tennessee.

British software developer Autonomy Corporation plc (LSE: AU.) announced it has won a significant contract with major US retailer Sears. The license agreement for Autonomy’s ‘Intelligent Data Operating Layer’ software, adds Sears (Nasdaq: SLHD) to the list of several new clients gained over the past few months.

This morning FTSE 100 listed insurance and financial services firm Aviva (LSE: AV.) confirmed its plans to sell a minority stake in its wholly owned subsidiary ‘The Delta Lloyd Group’. Aviva plan to sell the minority stake in the European financial services group through an Initial Placing Offer (IPO), onto Amsterdam’s Euronext exchange in November.

International engineering and construction group, Balfour Beatty (LSE: BBY) announced it has been awarded two new contracts totalling £134 million.

UK Waste Management firm, Shanks (LSE: SKS) has announced a £8m Joint Venture with Energen Biogas to develop Shanks first UK Anaerobic Digestion facility in Scotland. The plant will utilise the Shanks propriety Orgaworld technology.

PZ Cussons Plc (LSE: PZC) released its interim management statement ahead of today’s AGM. The statement reflects group performance which has remained in line with management expectations. PZ Cussons remains cautiously optimistic despite the global economic picture remaining uncertain.

Small Cap News

TyraTech Inc (AIM: TYR) said it has achieved the second milestone in its functional foods contract with Kraft Foods Holdings, Inc ('Kraft Foods', NYSE: KFT), and the companies have revised the contract to better address the development plan.

Nyota Minerals (ASX & AIM: NYO) (formerly Dwyka Resources) reported further positive results from its ongoing exploration activities in Ethiopia this morning.

Shares in Goldplat (AIM: GDP) were in demand this morning after the Africa operating gold and platinum miner said its Kilimapesa Hill gold mining project in South Western Kenya had a JORC compliant Measured and Indicated resource of 31,416 ounces of gold with another 98,000 ounces in the Inferred category.

Mobile email and data synchronisation group Synchronica PLC (AIM: SYNC) said it won a contract to supply its Mobile Gateway product to a South-East Asian operator with more than 30 million subscribers on its GSM network.

Diagnostic testing kits producer Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings (IDS; AIM: IDH) released a trading update, saying current trading was in line with projections, expecting to execute the plans for the full year.

Gold exploration and development company Kryso Resources PLC (AIM: KYS) said it is raising £500,000 before costs via a placing of 9.09 million shares at 5. 5 pence a share, to improve its working capital position, particularly following the planned completion of the bankable feasibility study (BFS) later in the year for the Pakrut gold project in Tajikistan.

Wolfson Microelectronics (LSE: WLF) updated investors today ahead of their Q3 results later this month. In the statement released this morning, the semiconductor specialist said it expected revenues for the quarter to reach around US$35 million, with gross margins of approximately 51%. Wolfson’s confidence was spurred by new products and design wins.

Oil and gas services company Bateman Litwin (AIM: BNLN) said its majority shareholder Bateman B.V. asked it to consider the cancellation of the company’s admission to trading on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.

US focused hydrocarbon production and development company Nighthawk Energy PLC (AIM: HAWK) said recent activity on the Revere oil and gas project has been intense, and production is expected to increase to 250 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the current 150 when a pipeline extension comes on-stream in the fourth quarter 2009.

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