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Epic & Msn data

Epic	ASX
Time:	16:35:30
Mid Price:	2889.26
Change Today:
Change % Today:
Fifty Two Week High:
Fifty Two Week Low:
Market Capital:

Period & price data

Period	Price
Now:	2889.26
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:	17-03-201017-03-201017-03-2010

Randgold, Petropavlovsk, Fresnillo and Hochschild gain as Gold and Silver rise, FTSE 100 climbs

Overview: contrary to the pre-trade projections, the FTSE 100 was off to a positive start, tacking on more than 0.5% in early trade despite the steep falls in global stock markets, which were triggered by Friday’s selloff on Wall Street after investors were discouraged by a disappointing US consumer confidence update.

The mining sector was the sole driving force behind the early surge with mining companies stacking the leaderboard. Base metals focused Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC), gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) and platinum miner Lonmin (LSE: LMI) were in the lead with gains of 4-6%.

Heating and plumbing material supplier Wolseley (LSE: WOS) was the sole non-commodity stock on the top risers list with a 2.5% advance.

Bailed out banks Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) and Royal Bank of Sctoland (LSE: RBS) once again acted as a drag on the blue chip index, posting massive losses after RBS admitted that a deal with EU regulators and the UK government could include unplanned asset disposals. RBS slipped 7%, while Lloyds declined 3% in sympathy.

Airline British Airways (LSE: BAY) also shed about 3%, while pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK), commercial property company Segro (LSE: SGRO) and hospitality company Whitbread (LSE: WTB) followed with losses of 1.5%.

Stock index futures in the US rose, pointing to a higher open on Wall Street ahead of the update from the Institute of Supply Management, due later today.

Commodities

Oil prices inched higher today, making up for some of their recent losses.

December Brent Crude rose to US$76.44/barrel, while US light, sweet crude reached US$78/barrel.

With the exception of Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW), which started the day with marginal declines, all major oil and gas stocks rose in the morning.

BP (LSE: BP) was in the lead with a 1.8% climb, while fellow supermajor Shell (LSE: RDSA) rose marginally, as did Petrofac (LSE: PFC). Other FTSE 100 constituents Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) and BG Group (LSE: BG) added 1%.

Midcap Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) outperformed the sector with an 8.7% rally after Dubai based oil company ENOC agreed to acquire its remaining share capital.

However, fellow FTSE 250 constituents were in decline with Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) posting a marginal loss and Herigate Oil (LSE: HOIL) shedding 2%.

Kazakhstan operating Max Petroleum (LSE: MXP), which commenced the drilling on its ZMA-AN2 well in the Zhana Makat field, and energy investor Xtract Energy PLC (AIM: XTR) led the juniors with gains of 5.5% and 4.5% respectively.

Mongolia-focused Petro Matad Ltd (AIM: MATD) was at the bottom of the pile with a 14% decline after announcing a winter shutdown at its Davsan Tolgoi-1 well in Mongolia.

US focused junior Empyrean Energy (AIM: EME) and Peru, Colombia and Cuba operating oil and gas explorer and producer Gold Oil (LSE: GOO) followed with losses of 6%. Africa and FSU operating oil and gas junior Victoria Oil & Gas (AIM: VOG) lost 5%, while Atlantic Canada operating oil and gas group Enegi Oil (AIM: ENEG) dropped 4%.

Miners rise as gold and silver climb

Precious metals were on the rise this morning with Gold recapturing the US$1,050/oz mark, while Silver and Platinum rose to US$16.60/oz and 1,334/oz respectively.

Mining stocks performed strongly in the morning, buoyed by the increases in precious metal prices.

Gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) and platinum producer Lonmin (LSE: LMI) were in the lead with gains of 4.5% and 4.1% respectively. Silver miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) followed with a 2.5% advance.

Specialty chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT) tacked on 1%.

Midcaps also did well. Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) led the way with a 3.4% climb, while gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) added 2%. Silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) lagged behind with marginal gains.

Uzbekistan focused gold miner Oxus Gold (AIM: OXS) led the sector with a 13% surge, while Argentina focused gold explorer Patagonia Gold (AIM: PGD) and Commodity asset development company Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR) followed, advancing 5.5% and 4% respectively.

Australian gold and copper prospector Solomon Gold (AIM: SOLG) led the fallers with a 10% slide. South American based explorer Mariana Resources (AIM: MARL) also was in selling more, shedding almost 9%.

Tajikistan operating gold miner Kryso Resources (AIM: KYS) slipped 5%, while Kazakhstan operating gold producer and copper developer Frontier Mining (AIM: FML) and Turkey focused gold miner Stratex International (AIM: STI) both lost more than 3%.

Copper and Nickel rise

Base metals also were on the rise following an early slide with Copper and Nickel rising to US$2.96/pound and US$8.27/pound respectively. Zinc improved to US$0.98/pound.

Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) led the market this morning with a gain of over 5.5%. Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ), Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) and Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) added more than 3%, as did Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO). Xstrata (LSE: XTA) was up 3%, while Anglo American (LSE: AAL) advanced 2.3%.

The world’s largest miner BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT) rose 1.7%.

London's only listed pure iron ore producer and FTSE 250 constituent, Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) moved with the market, rising marginally.

Australia focused coking coal producer Caledon Resources (AIM: CDN) led the juniors with a 4.5% gain, while Tunisia focused metal miner Maghreb Minerals (AIM: MMS) went in the opposite direction with a 6% slide.

Banks, insurance, private equity

RBS (LSE: RBS) and Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) led the fallers, sliding 7.5% and 3% respectively, while Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) declined marginally. However, sector peers Barclays (LSE: BARC) and HSBC (LSE: HSBA) did well, tacking on more than 1%.

Insurers were in decline this morning.

Legal & General Group (LSE: LGEN) was at the bottom of the pile with a 3% slide, while Old Mutual (LSE: OML) and Standard Life (LSE: SL) followed with losses of almost 2%.

Car insurer Admiral Group (LSE: ADM) and Aviva (LSE: AV) both lost about 1%, while Prudential (LSE: PRU) and RSA Insurance Group (LSE: RSA) declined marginally.

Private equity group 3i (LSE: III) was down 2.3%.

Large and Mid Cap News

GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) announced that it has reached the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA)  targeted primary efficacy endpoint in the second and final phase 3 trial of its lupus drug treatment, BENLYSTA. The ‘Bliss-76’ trial the drug achieved a statistically significant improvement in patient response rates.

International Gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS, NYSE:GOLD) says it will move quickly to fill in the gaps in the feasibility study on the newly renamed Kibali (Moto Gold) project and to bring the mine into production as soon as possible. Randgold closed the acquisition of Moto Goldmines earlier this month.

Irish no-frills airline Ryanair Holdings PLC (LSE: RYA) said it is making little progress in its discussions with Boeing Co over the delivery of 200 planes, and said that should talks not be completed before the year-end, it will end its relationship with Boeing and return its surplus cash to shareholders, thus putting a brake on its mid-term expansion plans.

Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) said the thickness, quality and extent of the reservoir in the Tornado exploration well was in line with pre-drill projections after the drilling of the sidetrack was completed.

Small Cap News

Ascent Resources plc (AIM: AST) announced it has completed the drilling of the PEN-104 sidetracked gas well in the Nyírség permits of Eastern Hungary.  This is the second sidetrack well and according to Ascent, logs of PEN-104 indicate the “presence of a substantial gas reservoir”.

Mobile email and data synchronisation group Synchronica PLC (AIM: SYNC) said it has signed a contract for US$270,000 with a Southern-African mobile operator for an initial 100,000 user license for its mobile email product Mobile Gateway, as well as a contract for ongoing professional services.

Shares in Nostra Terra (AIM: NTOG) came in demand this morning after the emerging oil and gas exploration and production company said the results of the reserves report for its Bloom property doubled its reserve base, providing the company with a “great opportunity for cash flow.”

UAE based oil company Emirates National Oil Company Limited (ENOC) has agreed to acquire the remainder of issued share capital of Turkmenistan operating oil and gas player Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO), valuing the entire company at £2.357 billion.

Middlesex-based provider of integrated support services AssetCo (AIM: ASTO) has launched a joint venture (JV) with Abu Dhabi government to develop and operate Rabdan Disaster City, a multi-agency emergency services training centre in the Emirate.

Solomon Gold PLC (AIM: SOLG) said it appointed John Bovard as an additional non-executive director with immediate effect

Alternative Networks (AIM: AN.) announced the acquisition of the Aurora Kendrick James Group in a cash and shares deal worth a combined £5.5m. Additionally Alternative Networks also revealed a new contract win which will be ‘materially assisted’ by the acquisition.

Alternative energy company Ocean Power Technologies (AIM: OPT) said it has successfully completed trials of its Underwater Substation Pod (USP) product in Spain, which it said was a unique product in the offshore market with the potential to create a new revenue stream.

Jubilee Platinum PLC (AIM: JLP; JSE: JBL) and Sylvania Resources Ltd (AIM, ASX: SLV) plan to enter into a strategic partnership to smelt Sylvania's platinum group metal (PGM) concentrates from its tailings retreatment projects that are not tied into other contracts using Jubilee’s ConRoast smelter in South Africa.

HansonWesthouse said Australian-based uranium focused company Forte Energy’s (ASX, AIM: FTE) Mauritanian uranium projects had a significant upside following Friday’s report on essay results, which caused the broker to up its target price for the company to 11.5 pence and retain a ‘buy’ recommendation for the stock.

Intelek PLC (AIM: ITK) said its wholly-owned subsidiary Paradise Datacom has received further orders for the supply of multi-frequency band solid state power amplifiers for an ongoing US government programme. The latest order of US$0.7 million brings the total orders received under this programme for the current financial year to US$3.0 million.

Faroe Petroleum PLC (AIM: FPM) said licence operator OMV has successfully completed drilling the side-track to the Tornado discovery well west of Shetland, in which Faroe has a 7.5 percent working interest.

Broker Seymour Pierce has initiated coverage of Westminster Group PLC (AIM: WSG) with a ‘buy’ recommendation and 60 pence price target, an upside of around 70 percent from its current share price of 35p.

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