European stock markets got hit by concerns over the debt situation in euro zone countries Greece, Portugal and Spain, which have also weakened Europe’s single currency to prop the US Dollar and make crude, which trades in the greenback, more expensive for holders of other currencies. Last week’s disappointing employment data that came out in the US also raised doubts about the strength of the ongoing economic recovery to further weigh commodities down.

The US Dollar was slightly lower on Tuesday as fears that Greece’s debt problems may be shared by other euro zone countries eased, helping oil prices to small gains.

No major economic updates are due out this week and oil prices are currently moving along with currency and stock markets. Investors will be looking for cues on Tuesday, when the API (American Petroleum Institute) releases its inventories report, which will be followed by data from the US Department of Energy on Wednesday.

March Brent Crude reached US$71.05/barrel, while US light, sweet crude traded at US$72.35/barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oil and gas blue chips were mixed today. Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) added less than 1%, as did Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW). Other FTSE 100 constituents BG Group (LSE: BG) and Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) did better, climbing 1.3% and 1.6% respectively.

Amec (LSE: AMEC) posted a marginal loss, while fellow engineering company Petrofac (LSE: PFC) added 1.4%.

Midcaps also were mixed. Melrose Resources (LSE: MRS) and Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) led the pack, tacking on nearly 4%. JKX Oil and Gas (LSE: JKX) followed with a 3% gain, while Salamander Energy (LSE: SMDR) added less than 1% and Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) was flat, as was Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX).

Premier Oil (LSE: PMO) and Soco International (LSE: SIA) declined marginally.

FTSE 250 services companies headed in different directions as while Wood Group (LSE: WG) lost less than 1%, Wellstream Holdings (LSE: WSM) was able to post a small gain.

EU operating Rome-based oil junior Mediterranean Oil & Gas (AIM: MOG) led the small caps with a 16% rally after doubling 2P reserves at its Ombrina Mare oil and gas field. Iraq and Algeria operating Gulf Keystone Petroleum (AIM: GKP) followed with an 8% advance.

Peru, Colombia and Cuba operating oil and gas explorer and producer Gold Oil (LSE: GOO) was in decline, shedding 8%.

European stock markets got hit by concerns over the debt situation in euro zone countries Greece, Portugal and Spain, which have also weakened Europe’s single currency to prop the US Dollar and make crude, which trades in the greenback, more expensive for holders of other currencies. Last week’s disappointing employment data that came out in the US also raised doubts about the strength of the ongoing economic recovery to further weigh commodities down.

The US Dollar was slightly lower on Tuesday as fears that Greece’s debt problems may be shared by other euro zone countries eased, helping oil prices to small gains.

No major economic updates are due out this week and oil prices are currently moving along with currency and stock markets. Investors will be looking for cues on Tuesday, when the API (American Petroleum Institute) releases its inventories report, which will be followed by data from the US Department of Energy on Wednesday.

March Brent Crude reached US$71.05/barrel, while US light, sweet crude traded at US$72.35/barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oil and gas blue chips were mixed today. Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) added less than 1%, as did Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW). Other FTSE 100 constituents BG Group (LSE: BG) and Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) did better, climbing 1.3% and 1.6% respectively.

Amec (LSE: AMEC) posted a marginal loss, while fellow engineering company Petrofac (LSE: PFC) added 1.4%.

Midcaps also were mixed. Melrose Resources (LSE: MRS) and Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) led the pack, tacking on nearly 4%. JKX Oil and Gas (LSE: JKX) followed with a 3% gain, while Salamander Energy (LSE: SMDR) added less than 1% and Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) was flat, as was Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX).

Premier Oil (LSE: PMO) and Soco International (LSE: SIA) declined marginally.

FTSE 250 services companies headed in different directions as while Wood Group (LSE: WG) lost less than 1%, Wellstream Holdings (LSE: WSM) was able to post a small gain.

EU operating Rome-based oil junior Mediterranean Oil & Gas (AIM: MOG) led the small caps with a 16% rally after doubling 2P reserves at its Ombrina Mare oil and gas field. Iraq and Algeria operating Gulf Keystone Petroleum (AIM: GKP) followed with an 8% advance.

Peru, Colombia and Cuba operating oil and gas explorer and producer Gold Oil (LSE: GOO) was in decline, shedding 8%.

Phase 1.5 is designed to lift capacity by approximately 27.5% to 32,000 tons per day by adding a second SAG mill plus related conveyor and pumping systems.  “The installation of the second SAG mill was completed late January and currently motor run-ins and belt aligning work are underway,” Mercator Minerals confirmed this morning in a statement to the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Commission is expected to take a few weeks, with the new 32,000 tons per day capacity ready in March.
Mercator also confirmed that Phase 2 is continuing on schedule.  Phase 2 includes the installation of ball mills, which is due for completion “around the end of the year”.

"Even though the mill commenced operations in April, Mineral Park produced more than 31 million pounds of copper, 1.9 million pounds of [molybdenum] and 200,000 oz. of silver. With the increased production from phase 1.5, we look forward to another record year and continued growth from Phase 2 and the El Pilar project,” said Mike Surratt, President and CEO of Mercator Minerals.

The copper-molybdenum-silver producer also confirmed that it had entered into a new off-take agreement with commodity trading group, Trafigura for 50,000 tons of copper concentrate to be delivered to domestic smelters in 2010. "This is a considerably better contract for us with the domestic shipping," noted Surratt.

After the rig has completed the PEN-101 well, it will proveed to either drill the PEN-106 well, another Miocene prospect, or to the PEN-104 location to continue the testing of the PEN-104AA sidetrack that was suspended in December 2009.

For the PEN-104AA testing operations, the decision to use the drilling rig, rather than a dedicated workover unit mobilised especially for the testing work, is primarily due to operational restrictions on the part of the drilling contractor.

“Production in March from the Peneszlek Project will again be contributing revenues to Ascent, the PEN-101 is a relatively simple and shallow well, neither deviated nor with a multiple completion and targets a previously undrilled Miocene prospect that is very similar to the 105 proven reservoir and 106 target.  As soon as the well is complete and the rig has departed production will recommence,” said managing director Jeremy Eng.

Fox-Davies Capital (FD Capital) called this a welcome continuation of the company’s strategy for the Peneszlek project and the slight delay in the start of production at PEN-105 was not material. The broker also noted the conversion of joint venture (JV) partner Geomega’s working interest in the 101 and 106 wells to a lesser carried interest, calling this a very positive change for Ascent.

The 'buy' rating was retained along with the target price of 20 pence.

Part of the new funds raised will be apportioned to the final instalment of the hydraulic excavator at Stockton, scheduled to arrive in March 2010, which should immediately impact production levels, through raised input into the on-site washery.

Managing Director Steve Best said commented: “We are nearing the final phases of redeveloping the Stockton Colliery, which we believe will significantly improve the economics of the operation, already enhanced by the settlement of the Pagnotti supply agreement, and lead to a deserved re-rating of our stock.  Our aim is to produce up to 400,000 tons of run of mine coal at Stockton over an initial 10 year mine life, which should generate significant cashflow for the Company, something we can utilise to implement our regional Pennsylvanian consolidation strategy as well as identify other synergistic high quality coal projects.”

The whole Carpenter Creek coal area covers approximately 70,000 acres and contains an estimated 1.2 billion tons of high quality thermal coal. Previous business models developed by MCC targeted production for 2012. Providing modelling with a potential mine life of over 30 years, with production at 6 million tons per annum of washed coal. MCC has access to existing transportation infrastructure including a direct line to key coal markets in the US and Asia.

The placing was arranged by Allenby Capital and it is expected to be effective on London’s AIM market on or around 15 February 2010.

On completion, APCL will have the rights to two highly prospective oil and gas exploration blocks off the coast of Liberia, West Africa, covering a total licence area of approximately 7,200km2.

Independent oil and gas specialist consultant, IHS Global, has determined that the Liberian blocks have potential for combined un-risked total P50 recoverable prospective resources 1875 million barrels with a range of 945 to 3043 million barrels.

The Agreement is conditional on Global completing a placement of shares to raise not less than A$130 million and up to A$230 million.

Global will change its name to African Petroleum Corporation Limited on obtaining the necessary shareholder approvals.

China Steel produces both nickel pig iron and merchant pig iron at its plant near the city of Linyi in China’s Shandong Province.

Chief Executive Chen Lidong said the company had successfully incorporated the use of Anthracite coal in its production process. Anthracite coal or black coal was a harder compact variety of coal with a high carbon content.

“This supplements our use of coke as an energy source and it will improve our production efficiency and enable us to improve our product quality,” he said.

“We are implementing these changes to ensure China Steel remains highly competitive in these uncertain times.

“It’s a move that will help solidify our position as the market leader in nickel pig iron in China.”

China Steel last month announced it had signed a one year letter of intent with Heng Feng Zheng Dao Trading Co. Ltd to supply 45,000 tonnes of nickel pig iron or 90 per cent of current production capacity.

China Steel Australia, which listed on the ASX in February, 2008, is an enterprise with a licence to manufacture steel and iron in China.

Following the announcement, shares in the company were trading 5.5c higher at $1.45.

In October 2009, Linc Energy mobilised ‘Boart Longyear Rig 9’ to the Arckaringa Basin, South Australia where it currently holds seven Petroleum Exploration Licenses prospective for UCG, CSG and conventional petroleum.

 Six wells were drilled, of which four cut large diameter core over the Upper Mount Toondina sequence for geotechnical analysis, specialised coal gasification testing and coal seam gas analysis.

Two of the wells have been completed as piezometers to provide a baseline for ground water behaviour in the area.

The company says the oil shows at Maglia-1 in the Arckaringa Basin are the most significant find in the history of the basin.

Heavy flooding postponed the final two wells in the ‘PEL’ program along with drilling aimed at appraising conventional coal mining in selected areas held under mineral Exploration Licenses.

Subject to weather conditions, it is anticipated that finalisation of the program will occur early in the second quarter of 2010.

Multiple coal seams were intersected in every well with the exception of Nuba-1 that intersected basement without penetrating the Mount Toondina formation. Individual seams of up to 6 metres thickness were identified by geophysical logging. Detailed analysis is ongoing.

During drilling of Maglia-1, oil shows and a strong petroliferous odour were observed within cored sandstones at 366.4 to 369.4 and 393.4 to 396.4 metres coring depth.

Good reservoir attributes have also been encountered in historical drilling of the overlying Permian Boorthana and Mount Toondina Formations, the latter of which is where the Maglia-1 oil show was encountered although this well, targeting UCG appraisal, was not drilled on any structural trap.

All of the potential reservoir units that occur in this area are considered to have adequate and extensive regional seals.

Linc Energy Chief Executive Peter Bond said the news in the Arckaringa PELs was a significant milestone.

"The results have confirmed my belief in the energy bearing potential of this vast acreage and reinforces the reasoning why we purchased SAPEX in the first place.

"It takes the prospectivity of this basin for petroleum to the next level; one where the existence of an active petroleum system is now proven.

"We will progress our plans with increased confidence and vigour as a result of this important discovery, which I believe is just the first of many exciting announcements concerning Linc Energy’s traditional oil and gas assets."

Shares in the company last traded for $1.49 on the Australian Securities Exchange.

The Company's tenements at Yerecoin host more than 30 kilometres of strike of magnetite rich banded iron formation, with positive results returned from initial RC and diamond drilling in March 2009, including intersections of 72 metres @ 32.4% Fe including 56 metres @ 35.7% Fe, and 50 metres @ 30.3% Fe.

Based on dips and thicknesses of mineralisation from drilling data, integration of surface mapping, rock sampling and aeromagnetic data, the Company has defined an initial Exploration Target at Yerecoin of 200 to 250 million tonnes of magnetite mineralisation grading 30% to 35% Fe.

The Company elected to initially bypass a drillout to JORC compliant resource at Yerecoin, and commissioned experienced magnetite specialists ProMet Engineers to prepare a Scoping Study in order to better understand the various options for product specifications, production levels, capital and operating costs and port/rail planning solutions.

The Study’s design basis is production at 2.5 million tonnes per year of Blast Furnace grade concentrate. Because of its excellent beneficiation characteristics, the Yerecoin mineralization does not require grinding to 45 microns to achieve BF grade.

The concentrate from the mine site would be hauled over existing rail networks to the Kwinana Bulk Terminal for export, or for possible sale to a potential local user of magnetite in Kwinana who has access to the rail network.

Implementation of the schedule indicates production will be possible by 3rd quarter 2013.

Resource drilling has commenced to establish initial JORC resource within current Exploration Target of 200 to 250 million tonnes.

Despite continual heavy rains along the Texas coast, oil storage tanks and dehydration / separation equipment have been successfully installed on site. The Operator has now commenced the installation of the flow line that will connect the Smith #1 Well to the commercial sales line.

Executive Director Peter Landau said the standing water will be cleared so that the flow line can be successfully buried. Once the flow line has been completed, the final stage will be the connection to the commercial sales line.

The Company will provide further updates as the Smith well progresses towards first production.

Range has oil and gas interests in the frontier state of Puntland, Somalia, the Republic of Georgia and Texas, USA.

On the 30th December, SA Capital acquired 3.14 million BRD shares and on 20th January SA Capital acquired 535,000 shares at around $0.014 per share.

The drill rig is now mobilizing to the Kangiara project to commence a 7‐hole programme.

At Rosedale, two holes were drilled to test for gold mineralisation beneath previous shallow gold intercepts. A third hole tested part of a large geophysical anomaly discovered in 2009.

Managing Director Dr Graham Carman said all three of the Rosedale holes intersected minor pyrite mineralisation beneath a 40m thick oxidized cap, and have been systematically sampled. We await completed gold assays expected in about two weeks.

“At Kangiara, drilling will test for extensions of the base metal and gold mineralisation discovered on EL 7273. In addition, four new prospects will be drill tested on the adjacent EL 6274, including Democrat, Secondary, and Southern," Dr Carman said.

"After completion of the current drill programme, we will look forward to delivering our first JORC compliant resource estimate from the Kangiara prospect by the end March 2010.”

The soil geochemistry program defined a zone that contains elevated gold values, only 1.1 kilometres east of the Attila gold deposit and 2.4 kilometres west of the Central Bore gold discovery in a parallel magnetic structure.

The original assays and repeat results indicate presence of coarse gold in soil samples.

The soil survey at the Hann prospect was undertaken as a follow up to earlier widespaced traverses of shallow auger and RAB drill-holes. In June 2009, Eleckra drilled 26 shallow RAB holes on the prospect that returned encouraging gold results.

However, the drilling program was terminated as the RAB drilling could not penetrate the hard, silicified felsic volcanic schist present at the prospect.

Eleckra decided to determine the extent of, and to better define, the anomaly by a close-spaced geochemical soil survey, with approximately 950 soil samples collected on 20mE x 40mN grid over a total strike length of 2.8 kilometres.

The unlevelled gold image shows a very strong 800 metre-long anomaly over the area with Archaean bedrock in the south-eastern grid, with grades up to 2.1 g/t Au in repeat assay and up to 1.05 g/t Au in original assay.

A weaker trend is visible in the north-western grid over the area with the saprolite erosional plains, which mask the response.

The levelled gold image clearly shows three parallel trends that continue from southeast to northwest on the saprolite. Anomalies relative to background are of the same order of magnitude over both grids.

The levelled arsenic image also shows a strong anomaly in the southern grid that is associated with the eastern gold trend. In the northern part of the grid from 6,885,360N onwards, arsenic shows unexplained parallel north-south trends, which will be further checked.

Eleckra Executive Chairman Ian Murray said the company intended to carry out its maiden RC drilling program at the Hann prospect in early 2010, while a follow up soil survey would be undertaken in mid-February to extend the grid further to the southeast along the trend.

In all, 7 rock chip samples were collected from Anomaly 1, a previously identified anomaly situated on Exploration Licence E80/3398.

Exploration Licence E80/3398 forms part of the 100% owned Mad Gap Project and is situated approximately 65km northwest of Halls Creek, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Following a field examination, visible stratabound uranium mineralisation was recognised at or near the target unconformity. Seven rock chip samples were collected from Anomaly 1.

Shares in Sandfire Resources closed yesterday 18 cents up at $A3.60 ($US3.12) as a prelude to the company preparing its first JORC Code resource for the Doolgunna project north of Meekatharra in the north Murchison region.

There has already been a lot of number crunching by analysts with some of the more excitable suggesting their may already be 500,000 tonnes in the deep-seated lenses.

Apart from today's results the rumour machine is still running strongly on speculation this junior which has had a rapid rise from being a penny stock less than eight months may be a takeover target. One of the names constantly mentioned is the cashed-up OZ Minerals Ltd.

The latest results will also provide fresh adrenalin for several explorers who hold ground at or near Doolgunna, which until this discovery was an old gold mining camp of little consequence.

The assays released today included a series of new holes into Conductor 1 and the Degrussa lens at Doolgunna.

Better assays from Conductor 1 included 6.8 metres grading 14.8% copper and 1.7 grams/tonne gold; 31.4m @ 4.6% Cu and 2.1 g/t Au; 25.9m @ 4.7% Cu and 2.2 g/t Au, 21.9m @ 6.3% Cu and 0.9 g/t Au and a hole with 20m @ 4.8% Cu and 0.8 g/t Au followed by 14.9m @ 4.7% Cu and 1.9 g/t Au.

A high grade intercept from DeGrussa was 2.1m @ 17.8% Cu and 7.5 g/t gold.

Managing director Karl Simich said generating the maiden resource estimate "is on track for this month."

He said the entire 2009 drilling data base for the DeGrussa deposit encompasses 88 diamond holes, completed between early July and December 22 last year.

Simich said the company would increase exploration for additional VMS deposits near Conductor 1 and DeGrussa, including the Conductor 4 deposit picked up late last year.

The company believes, like the Canadian VMS mining models, that there is potential to discover multiple deposits on the exploration licences.

Well known Australian mining manager Martin Reed, who has helped develop several mines in Australia and southern Africa, has been appointed project manager.

www.mineweb.com

Despite continual heavy rains along the Texas coast, oil storage tanks and dehydration / separation equipment have been successfully installed on site. The Operator has now commenced the installation of the flow line that will connect the Smith #1 Well to the commercial sales line.

Executive Director Peter Landau said the standing water will be cleared so that the flow line can be successfully buried. Once the flow line has been completed, the final stage will be the connection to the commercial sales line.

The Company will provide further updates as the Smith well progresses towards first production.

Range has oil and gas interests in the frontier state of Puntland, Somalia, the Republic of Georgia and Texas, USA.

Commercial property company British Land (LSE: BLND) reported on its Q3 results, saying portfolio valuation increased 8.2%. Pre-tax profits declined from £63 million to £58 million, while earnings per share were down from 10 pence to 7 pence partly due to portfolio rebalancing during 2009.

AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) said that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has approved its medicine CRESTOR.

Broadcaster BSkyB (LSE: BSY) has placed a shareholding of 10.4% in ITV with Morgan Staley at 48.50 pence resulting in an aggregate consideration of £196 million.

In AIM, South Africa operating chrome miner Chromex Mining (AIM: CHX) has recommenced mining at its Stellite opencast chrome mine after pricing and chrome market conditions improved.

Machine to machine (M2M) communications specialist Telit Communications (AIM: TCM) said it expected unaudited revenues for the year to the end of December at €63 million, which is a 7% year on year improvement and is in line with market expectations.

Atlantic Coal (AIM: ATC) has completed a placing to raise £400,000. The issued shares will represent 5.5% of the company’s enlarged share capital.

UK based electrical components producer and supplier Cinpart (AIM: CINP) has been awarded a contract by the Ministry of Justice to provide and install 55 VoltageMaster units at 52 courts in England and Wales.

Africa and FSU operating oil and gas junior Victoria Oil & Gas (AIM: VOG) provided an update form its Logbaba gas and condensate project in Cameroon, where it has spudded well La-106 and changed its design to target most prospective areas of existing discovery.

Mobile email and data synchronisation group Synchronica PLC (AIM: SYNC) will launch the MessagePhone, a low cost messaging-centric device aimed at emerging markets this Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1% to close below 10,000 for the first time since November last year. The broader S&P 500 index was down 0.9% and the technology heavy NASDAQ composite lost 0.7%.

Asian markets were mixed today. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.1%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.5% and South Korea’s KOSPI advanced 1.1%, however, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slid 0.2% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 moved down 0.4%.

In London, gold producer Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) and sector peers Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) and Xstrata (LSE: XTA) made it to the top three gainers in the market, advancing 6.4%, 5.3% and 3.6% respectively. Interdealer broker ICAP (LSE: IAP) and beverage group SABMiller (LSE: SAB) followed, adding about 3%. Miners Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ), Lonmin (LSE: LMI) and Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) also did well, tacking on around 2.5%.

Banks and insurers were in selling mode with Legal & General (LSE: LGEN), Aviva (LSE: AV) and Prudential (LSE: PRU) emerging among the biggest fallers with losses of 3.6%, 2.6% and 2.4% respectively. Bailed out bank Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) also shed more than 2%. Other notable fallers included airline British Airways (LSE: BAY) with a 3.4% decline, commercial property companies Liberty International (LSE: LII) and British Land (LSE: BLND) and investor Resolution (LSE: RSL), which pulled back about 2%.

Commodities

Oil prices improved with March Brent Crude climbing to US$70.44/barrel, while US light, sweet crude reached US$72.13/barrel.

Precious metals also were higher with gold reaching US$1,071/oz, while silver and platinum advanced to US$15.24/oz and US$1,482/oz respectively.

Base metals followed with copper and nickel rising to US$2.94/lb and US$7.91/lb, while zinc reached US$0.92/lb.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1% to close below 10,000 for the first time since November last year. The broader S&P 500 index was down 0.9% and the technology heavy NASDAQ composite lost 0.7%.

Asian markets were mixed today. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.1%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.5% and South Korea’s KOSPI advanced 1.1%, however, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slid 0.2% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 moved down 0.4%.

In London, gold producer Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) and sector peers Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) and Xstrata (LSE: XTA) made it to the top three gainers in the market, advancing 6.4%, 5.3% and 3.6% respectively. Interdealer broker ICAP (LSE: IAP) and beverage group SABMiller (LSE: SAB) followed, adding about 3%. Miners Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ), Lonmin (LSE: LMI) and Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) also did well, tacking on around 2.5%.

Banks and insurers were in selling mode with Legal & General (LSE: LGEN), Aviva (LSE: AV) and Prudential (LSE: PRU) emerging among the biggest fallers with losses of 3.6%, 2.6% and 2.4% respectively. Bailed out bank Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) also shed more than 2%. Other notable fallers included airline British Airways (LSE: BAY) with a 3.4% decline, commercial property companies Liberty International (LSE: LII) and British Land (LSE: BLND) and investor Resolution (LSE: RSL), which pulled back about 2%.

Commodities

Oil prices improved with March Brent Crude climbing to US$70.44/barrel, while US light, sweet crude reached US$72.13/barrel.

Precious metals also were higher with gold reaching US$1,071/oz, while silver and platinum advanced to US$15.24/oz and US$1,482/oz respectively.

Base metals followed with copper and nickel rising to US$2.94/lb and US$7.91/lb, while zinc reached US$0.92/lb.

Precious metals producers Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS), Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) and Lonmin (LSE: LMI) made it to the leaderboard with gains of 6%, 4.5% and 2% respectively. Other notable risers included power generation company International Power (LSE: IPR) and interdealer broker ICAP (LSE: IAP), which was in recovery mode after plummeting 16% on Friday, with both stocks advancing 2.5%, as well as beverage group SABMiller (LSE: SAB), British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS) and mobile satellite company Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT), which all tacked on about 2%.

The markets were dragged down by financial stocks with insurers emerging among the heaviest fallers in the index. Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) and Aviva (LSE: AV) both lost 4%. Other notable fallers included airline British Airways (LSE: BAY) with a 3% loss, chip maker ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM) and commercial property Segro (LSE: SGO), which declined 2% and 1.5% respectively. Retailer Kingfisher (LSE: KGF) also lost 1.5%.

US stocks were off to a mixed start as while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.15%, the broader S&P 500 index rose 0.1%, as did the technology heavy NASDAQ composite.

Commodities

il prices inched higher today to recoup some of the losses it suffered last week, when crude prices declined 4% to hit its two month lows on disappointing employment data that came out in the US and concerns over the debt situation in some eurozone countries.

Jobless claims unexpectedly rose in the US last week, which was followed by a non-farm payrolls update from the US Labor Department, which showed a decline of 20,000 for the month of December, while an increase was expected.

In other news, gasoline prices declined to US$2.67 a gallon in the US, according to California based analyst Trilby Lundberg after losing 5.8 cents last week.

March Brent Crude slipped below $70, arriving at US$69.69/barrel, while US light, sweet crude dropped to US$71.20/barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) posted small gains, while the rest of the majors slipped into the negative. Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) and BG Group (LSE: BG) slid to the bottom of the pile with losses of 3%, while Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) was down 1.1%.

Oil and gas engineering firms Amec (LSE: AMEC) and Petrofac (LSE: PFC) lost less than 1%.

Most midcaps also turned negative. Melrose was an exception with a 1.8% gain, as were Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) and Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL), which rose marginally.

Salamander Energy (LSE: SMDR) led the retreat with a 5% decline. JKX Oil and Gas (LSE: JKX), Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) and Soco International (LSE: SIA) followed with losses of 4%, 3% and 2% respectively. Premier Oil (LSE: PMO) also was in decline, shedding 1.5%.

Services companies Wood Group (LSE: WG) and Wellstream Holdings (LSE: WSM) were down 1% and 2% respectively.

Mongolia-focused Petro Matad Ltd (AIM: MATD) led the juniors with a 13% advance. Most other small caps moved in the same direction as the majors.

Western Europe operating oil and gas company Northern Petroleum (AIM: NOP) and Irish oil and gas exploration company Petroceltic International (AIM: PCI) both slipped 6%. Ukraine focused gas producer, Regal Petroleum (AIM: RPT) followed with a 5% decline, while Africa focused energy company Dominion Petroleum (AIM: DPL) retreated 4.5%.

Gold, silver and platinum recover

Gold was slightly higher today after slipping to US$1,050 from over US$1,100 per ounce last week on European debt worries and stronger US Dollar.

The yellow metal moves inversely to the US Dollar as it is seen as an alternative and riskier investment to the American currency, which has been gaining against the euro due to the persisting concerns over the debt situation in euro zone countries Greece, Spain and Portugal.

The US Dollar gave way today, helping commodities including precious metals to small gains.

Silver and platinum improved to US$15.01/oz and US$1,473/oz respectively.

Major mining stocks posted good gains today, while midcaps were down. Gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) led the sector in the FTSE 100 with a 5.5% advance. Silver and gold producer Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) and platinum miner Lonmin (LSE: LMI) followed, climbing 4% and 1.5% respectively.

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

In the FTSE 250, Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) was flat, while gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) lost less than 1% and silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) pulled back 1.8%.

Kyrgyzstan focused gold explorer and developer Chaarat Gold Holdings (AIM: CGH) performed well, gaining 9%. Commodity asset development company Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR) and Canada based junior gold developer Rambler Metals and Mining Plc (AIM: RMM) followed with gains of 5% and 4.5%, while Africa operating gold and platinum miner Goldplat (AIM: GDP) and Turkey and Ethiopia operating gold miner Stratex International (AIM: STI) gained 4% and 3.5%.

Turkey focused gold miner Ariana Resources (AIM: AAU) and Brazil focused gold miner Horizonte Minerals (AIM: HZM) headed in the opposite direction, shedding about 4%.

Copper and zinc climb

Base metals were mixed as while copper and zinc rose to US$2.87/lb and US$0.90/lb, nickel declined to US$7.72/lb.

Mining stocks were mixed. Xstrata (LSE: XTA) was in the lead with a 1.8% gain. Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) added 1.5% and BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT) tacked on nearly 1%. Anglo American (LSE: AAL) rose marginally, while Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) were flat and Vedanta resources (LSE: VED) lost 1%.

London's only listed pure iron ore producer and FTSE 250 constituent, Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) performed well, rising 1.2%.

Junior base metals focused miner didn’t show much movement today.

Banks, insurers, private equity

Financial stocks were in selling mode today. Part-nationalised Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) were at the bottom of the banking sector with losses of over 2%. Barclays (LSE: BARC) and Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) were down 1.5% and HSBC (LSE: HSBA) lost less than 1%.

Insurers also turned negative today. Aviva (LSE: AV) and Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) led the retreat, declining 4%. Prudential (LSE: PRU) was down 3%, Old Mutual (LSE: OML) slid 1% and Admiral Group (LSE: ADM) and Standard Life (LSE: SL) declined marginally. RSA Insurance Group (LSE: RSA) was flat.

Private equity group 3i (LSE: III) declined 1.5%.

Small Cap Movers

Other notable movers among the small caps included emerging speciality pharmaceutical company Alliance Pharma (AIM: APH), which rallied 16%, environmental science and technology company Accsys Technologies (AIM: AXS) with a 7.5% gain, bio-pharmaceutical company specialising in the development of differentiated biologicals, vaccines and siRNA delivery Lipoxen (AIM: LPX), which added 6% after securing an EU patent for its polysialic acid technology StimuXen and Seeing Machines (AIM: SEE), which rose 8%.

Large and Mid Cap News

A Lamprell (LSE: LAM) led consortium has received a new contract from a leading oil and gas operator in India. The company’s share of the deal is worth US$39.4 million.

Ultra Electronics (LSE: ULE) has signed a new £120 million bank facility to replace an existing facility of the same size, which was set to mature in November 2010, while the new one will not be due until September 2013.

BSS Group (LSE: BTSM) has announced the acquisition of specialist distributor of below ground drainage and civils equipment UGS Limited for a total consideration of £5.1 million including assumed debt to expand its reach in the drainage market.

Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) and Heritage Oil Plc (LSE: HOIL) confirmed that Eni SPA has terminated its agreement to purchase Heritage Oil’s interests in Uganda. The initial agreement was made on the 18 December 2009, before Heritage’s JV partner Tullow exercised its pre-emption rights on 26 January 2010 and effectively blocked the deal.

FTSE 100 mining company Anglo American (LSE: AAL) is set to trim its debt after fully subscribing to its entitlement to the rights offer announced by its subsidiary Anglo Platinum, which is aiming to raise US$1.6 billion.

Swiss miner Xstrata (LSE: XTA) announced its preliminary full year results today, saying its H2 profit almost got wiped out, plummeting 97% year-on-year as metal prices declined, though the company responded by delivering cost savings of US$501 million representing a 5% reduction in the operating cost base.

Small Cap News

International oil and gas exploration and production company Elixir Petroleum (ASX: EXR) has expanded its European portfolio with the acquisition of the large Moselle Permit located in the East Paris Basin, onshore North-eastern France.

Seeing Machines (AIM: SEE) today published a newsletter to shareholders to give an update on the development of its key products including the fatigue monitoring system Driver State Sensor (DSS) , which has achieved positive results in trials last year. The company said that the momentum in fleet management is currently shifting to its target market of fleet management systems dealing with driver monitoring.

Xcite Energy (AIM, TSX-V: XEL) has appointed book-runners to conduct an equity placing to finance the development of its Bentley oil field in the North Sea. The company estimates that approximately C$50m is required in total. To facilitate the equity financing the company hired Arbuthnot Securities in the UK and Octagon Capital Corporation and CIBC World Markets in Canada.

Obtala Resources (AIM: OBT) said that alluvial diamond mining has re-commenced on the newly acquired Konoma alluvial diamond operation in Sierra Leone after completing a review and maintenance programme of both the 2Mtpa (million tonnes per annum) dense medium separation (DMS) plant and the earth moving equipment.

Eco City Vehicles (AIM: ECV) has launched an electric prototype of the London-licensed Mercedes Vito taxi, which is exclusively distributed and was developed by the group with manufacturing partner Penso, Mercedes Benz UK and Zytec Automotive.

Payzone (AIM: PAYZ) said it has agreed the terms of a debt and share capital restructuring with the group's banking syndicate and private equity group Duke Street.  Receivers are being appointed and the company’s operating subsidiaries are being disposed into a newly formed company, to be controlled by Duke Street.  Existing shareholders in Payzone will not have an ongoing interest in the business.

PetroLatina (AIM: PELE) announced an updated resource estimate conducted by Ryder Scott, which put the proved, probable and possible reserves of the company at 11.40 mmboe (million barrels of oil equivalent), which is 55.5% higher than the previous estimate of 7.34 mmboe and is worth US$247 million.

North Sea oil & gas company Ithaca Energy Inc (AIM, TSX-V: IAE) said that the joint venture partners of the Athena project have initiated the oilfield's development. The partners have committed to the purchase of in long-lead equipment worth US$14.85m and a full project team has been commissioned to develop and finalise Athena’s Environmental Statement and Field Development Plan (FDP).

Bio-pharmaceutical contractor Angel Biotechnology (AIM: ABH) has signed a contract with university IP commercialisation company Fusion IP’s (AIM: FIP) latest spin-out company, Progenteq. The company will provide the newly established venture with consultancy and development services as Progenteq develops and commercialises its novel cartilage replacement therapy. The terms of the contract have not been disclosed.

Alliance Pharma (AIM: APH) said it has agreed a significantly earnings enhancing acquisition, buying a portfolio of 18 prescription products. The company has conditionally agreed to acquire certain assets of privately owned Cambridge Laboratories in a deal worth between £14.3m and £16.4m, plus an additional £1.4m for Cambridge’s product inventory.

Plant Impact (AIM: PIM) has announced an exclusive evaluation, development and distribution agreement with Arysta LifeScience Corp covering its InCa, Balance and Cocoa Stress Tolerance products, extending Plant Impact’s territorial coverage from 24 to 52 countries.

Fusion IP (AIM: FIP) has created another new spin-out company from its partnership with Cardiff University. Newly established Progenteq is developing a novel cartilage replacement, using technology developed by Professor Charlie Archer's research group at Cardiff University's School of Biosciences.

Lipoxen plc (AIM: LPX), a bio-pharmaceutical company specialising in the development of differentiated biologicals, vaccines and siRNA delivery, said it has been granted patents for its Polysialylated G-CSF StimuXen proprietary technology in six European territories: the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. The technology aims at protecting the body’s level of white blood cells which is particularly beneficial in chemotherapy patients.

Precious metals producers Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS), Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) and Lonmin (LSE: LMI) made it to the leaderboard with gains of 6%, 4.5% and 2% respectively. Other notable risers included power generation company International Power (LSE: IPR) and interdealer broker ICAP (LSE: IAP), which was in recovery mode after plummeting 16% on Friday, with both stocks advancing 2.5%, as well as beverage group SABMiller (LSE: SAB), British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS) and mobile satellite company Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT), which all tacked on about 2%.

The markets were dragged down by financial stocks with insurers emerging among the heaviest fallers in the index. Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) and Aviva (LSE: AV) both lost 4%. Other notable fallers included airline British Airways (LSE: BAY) with a 3% loss, chip maker ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM) and commercial property Segro (LSE: SGO), which declined 2% and 1.5% respectively. Retailer Kingfisher (LSE: KGF) also lost 1.5%.

US stocks were off to a mixed start as while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.15%, the broader S&P 500 index rose 0.1%, as did the technology heavy NASDAQ composite.

Commodities

il prices inched higher today to recoup some of the losses it suffered last week, when crude prices declined 4% to hit its two month lows on disappointing employment data that came out in the US and concerns over the debt situation in some eurozone countries.

Jobless claims unexpectedly rose in the US last week, which was followed by a non-farm payrolls update from the US Labor Department, which showed a decline of 20,000 for the month of December, while an increase was expected.

In other news, gasoline prices declined to US$2.67 a gallon in the US, according to California based analyst Trilby Lundberg after losing 5.8 cents last week.

March Brent Crude slipped below $70, arriving at US$69.69/barrel, while US light, sweet crude dropped to US$71.20/barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) posted small gains, while the rest of the majors slipped into the negative. Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) and BG Group (LSE: BG) slid to the bottom of the pile with losses of 3%, while Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) was down 1.1%.

Oil and gas engineering firms Amec (LSE: AMEC) and Petrofac (LSE: PFC) lost less than 1%.

Most midcaps also turned negative. Melrose was an exception with a 1.8% gain, as were Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) and Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL), which rose marginally.

Salamander Energy (LSE: SMDR) led the retreat with a 5% decline. JKX Oil and Gas (LSE: JKX), Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) and Soco International (LSE: SIA) followed with losses of 4%, 3% and 2% respectively. Premier Oil (LSE: PMO) also was in decline, shedding 1.5%.

Services companies Wood Group (LSE: WG) and Wellstream Holdings (LSE: WSM) were down 1% and 2% respectively.

Mongolia-focused Petro Matad Ltd (AIM: MATD) led the juniors with a 13% advance. Most other small caps moved in the same direction as the majors.

Western Europe operating oil and gas company Northern Petroleum (AIM: NOP) and Irish oil and gas exploration company Petroceltic International (AIM: PCI) both slipped 6%. Ukraine focused gas producer, Regal Petroleum (AIM: RPT) followed with a 5% decline, while Africa focused energy company Dominion Petroleum (AIM: DPL) retreated 4.5%.

Gold, silver and platinum recover

Gold was slightly higher today after slipping to US$1,050 from over US$1,100 per ounce last week on European debt worries and stronger US Dollar.

The yellow metal moves inversely to the US Dollar as it is seen as an alternative and riskier investment to the American currency, which has been gaining against the euro due to the persisting concerns over the debt situation in euro zone countries Greece, Spain and Portugal.

The US Dollar gave way today, helping commodities including precious metals to small gains.

Silver and platinum improved to US$15.01/oz and US$1,473/oz respectively.

Major mining stocks posted good gains today, while midcaps were down. Gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) led the sector in the FTSE 100 with a 5.5% advance. Silver and gold producer Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) and platinum miner Lonmin (LSE: LMI) followed, climbing 4% and 1.5% respectively.

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

In the FTSE 250, Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) was flat, while gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) lost less than 1% and silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) pulled back 1.8%.

Kyrgyzstan focused gold explorer and developer Chaarat Gold Holdings (AIM: CGH) performed well, gaining 9%. Commodity asset development company Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR) and Canada based junior gold developer Rambler Metals and Mining Plc (AIM: RMM) followed with gains of 5% and 4.5%, while Africa operating gold and platinum miner Goldplat (AIM: GDP) and Turkey and Ethiopia operating gold miner Stratex International (AIM: STI) gained 4% and 3.5%.

Turkey focused gold miner Ariana Resources (AIM: AAU) and Brazil focused gold miner Horizonte Minerals (AIM: HZM) headed in the opposite direction, shedding about 4%.

Copper and zinc climb

Base metals were mixed as while copper and zinc rose to US$2.87/lb and US$0.90/lb, nickel declined to US$7.72/lb.

Mining stocks were mixed. Xstrata (LSE: XTA) was in the lead with a 1.8% gain. Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) added 1.5% and BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT) tacked on nearly 1%. Anglo American (LSE: AAL) rose marginally, while Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) were flat and Vedanta resources (LSE: VED) lost 1%.

London's only listed pure iron ore producer and FTSE 250 constituent, Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) performed well, rising 1.2%.

Junior base metals focused miner didn’t show much movement today.

Banks, insurers, private equity

Financial stocks were in selling mode today. Part-nationalised Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) were at the bottom of the banking sector with losses of over 2%. Barclays (LSE: BARC) and Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) were down 1.5% and HSBC (LSE: HSBA) lost less than 1%.

Insurers also turned negative today. Aviva (LSE: AV) and Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) led the retreat, declining 4%. Prudential (LSE: PRU) was down 3%, Old Mutual (LSE: OML) slid 1% and Admiral Group (LSE: ADM) and Standard Life (LSE: SL) declined marginally. RSA Insurance Group (LSE: RSA) was flat.

Private equity group 3i (LSE: III) declined 1.5%.

Small Cap Movers

Other notable movers among the small caps included emerging speciality pharmaceutical company Alliance Pharma (AIM: APH), which rallied 16%, environmental science and technology company Accsys Technologies (AIM: AXS) with a 7.5% gain, bio-pharmaceutical company specialising in the development of differentiated biologicals, vaccines and siRNA delivery Lipoxen (AIM: LPX), which added 6% after securing an EU patent for its polysialic acid technology StimuXen and Seeing Machines (AIM: SEE), which rose 8%.

Large and Mid Cap News

A Lamprell (LSE: LAM) led consortium has received a new contract from a leading oil and gas operator in India. The company’s share of the deal is worth US$39.4 million.

Ultra Electronics (LSE: ULE) has signed a new £120 million bank facility to replace an existing facility of the same size, which was set to mature in November 2010, while the new one will not be due until September 2013.

BSS Group (LSE: BTSM) has announced the acquisition of specialist distributor of below ground drainage and civils equipment UGS Limited for a total consideration of £5.1 million including assumed debt to expand its reach in the drainage market.

Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) and Heritage Oil Plc (LSE: HOIL) confirmed that Eni SPA has terminated its agreement to purchase Heritage Oil’s interests in Uganda. The initial agreement was made on the 18 December 2009, before Heritage’s JV partner Tullow exercised its pre-emption rights on 26 January 2010 and effectively blocked the deal.

FTSE 100 mining company Anglo American (LSE: AAL) is set to trim its debt after fully subscribing to its entitlement to the rights offer announced by its subsidiary Anglo Platinum, which is aiming to raise US$1.6 billion.

Swiss miner Xstrata (LSE: XTA) announced its preliminary full year results today, saying its H2 profit almost got wiped out, plummeting 97% year-on-year as metal prices declined, though the company responded by delivering cost savings of US$501 million representing a 5% reduction in the operating cost base.

Small Cap News

International oil and gas exploration and production company Elixir Petroleum (ASX: EXR) has expanded its European portfolio with the acquisition of the large Moselle Permit located in the East Paris Basin, onshore North-eastern France.

Seeing Machines (AIM: SEE) today published a newsletter to shareholders to give an update on the development of its key products including the fatigue monitoring system Driver State Sensor (DSS) , which has achieved positive results in trials last year. The company said that the momentum in fleet management is currently shifting to its target market of fleet management systems dealing with driver monitoring.

Xcite Energy (AIM, TSX-V: XEL) has appointed book-runners to conduct an equity placing to finance the development of its Bentley oil field in the North Sea. The company estimates that approximately C$50m is required in total. To facilitate the equity financing the company hired Arbuthnot Securities in the UK and Octagon Capital Corporation and CIBC World Markets in Canada.

Obtala Resources (AIM: OBT) said that alluvial diamond mining has re-commenced on the newly acquired Konoma alluvial diamond operation in Sierra Leone after completing a review and maintenance programme of both the 2Mtpa (million tonnes per annum) dense medium separation (DMS) plant and the earth moving equipment.

Eco City Vehicles (AIM: ECV) has launched an electric prototype of the London-licensed Mercedes Vito taxi, which is exclusively distributed and was developed by the group with manufacturing partner Penso, Mercedes Benz UK and Zytec Automotive.

Payzone (AIM: PAYZ) said it has agreed the terms of a debt and share capital restructuring with the group's banking syndicate and private equity group Duke Street.  Receivers are being appointed and the company’s operating subsidiaries are being disposed into a newly formed company, to be controlled by Duke Street.  Existing shareholders in Payzone will not have an ongoing interest in the business.

PetroLatina (AIM: PELE) announced an updated resource estimate conducted by Ryder Scott, which put the proved, probable and possible reserves of the company at 11.40 mmboe (million barrels of oil equivalent), which is 55.5% higher than the previous estimate of 7.34 mmboe and is worth US$247 million.

North Sea oil & gas company Ithaca Energy Inc (AIM, TSX-V: IAE) said that the joint venture partners of the Athena project have initiated the oilfield's development. The partners have committed to the purchase of in long-lead equipment worth US$14.85m and a full project team has been commissioned to develop and finalise Athena’s Environmental Statement and Field Development Plan (FDP).

Bio-pharmaceutical contractor Angel Biotechnology (AIM: ABH) has signed a contract with university IP commercialisation company Fusion IP’s (AIM: FIP) latest spin-out company, Progenteq. The company will provide the newly established venture with consultancy and development services as Progenteq develops and commercialises its novel cartilage replacement therapy. The terms of the contract have not been disclosed.

Alliance Pharma (AIM: APH) said it has agreed a significantly earnings enhancing acquisition, buying a portfolio of 18 prescription products. The company has conditionally agreed to acquire certain assets of privately owned Cambridge Laboratories in a deal worth between £14.3m and £16.4m, plus an additional £1.4m for Cambridge’s product inventory.

Plant Impact (AIM: PIM) has announced an exclusive evaluation, development and distribution agreement with Arysta LifeScience Corp covering its InCa, Balance and Cocoa Stress Tolerance products, extending Plant Impact’s territorial coverage from 24 to 52 countries.

Fusion IP (AIM: FIP) has created another new spin-out company from its partnership with Cardiff University. Newly established Progenteq is developing a novel cartilage replacement, using technology developed by Professor Charlie Archer's research group at Cardiff University's School of Biosciences.

Lipoxen plc (AIM: LPX), a bio-pharmaceutical company specialising in the development of differentiated biologicals, vaccines and siRNA delivery, said it has been granted patents for its Polysialylated G-CSF StimuXen proprietary technology in six European territories: the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. The technology aims at protecting the body’s level of white blood cells which is particularly beneficial in chemotherapy patients.

Precious metals producers Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS), Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) and Lonmin (LSE: LMI) made it to the leaderboard with gains of 6%, 4.5% and 2% respectively. Other notable risers included power generation company International Power (LSE: IPR) and interdealer broker ICAP (LSE: IAP), which was in recovery mode after plummeting 16% on Friday, with both stocks advancing 2.5%, as well as beverage group SABMiller (LSE: SAB), British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS) and mobile satellite company Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT), which all tacked on about 2%.

The markets were dragged down by financial stocks with insurers emerging among the heaviest fallers in the index. Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) and Aviva (LSE: AV) both lost 4%. Other notable fallers included airline British Airways (LSE: BAY) with a 3% loss, chip maker ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM) and commercial property Segro (LSE: SGO), which declined 2% and 1.5% respectively. Retailer Kingfisher (LSE: KGF) also lost 1.5%.

US stocks were off to a mixed start as while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.15%, the broader S&P 500 index rose 0.1%, as did the technology heavy NASDAQ composite.

Commodities

il prices inched higher today to recoup some of the losses it suffered last week, when crude prices declined 4% to hit its two month lows on disappointing employment data that came out in the US and concerns over the debt situation in some eurozone countries.

Jobless claims unexpectedly rose in the US last week, which was followed by a non-farm payrolls update from the US Labor Department, which showed a decline of 20,000 for the month of December, while an increase was expected.

In other news, gasoline prices declined to US$2.67 a gallon in the US, according to California based analyst Trilby Lundberg after losing 5.8 cents last week.

March Brent Crude slipped below $70, arriving at US$69.69/barrel, while US light, sweet crude dropped to US$71.20/barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) posted small gains, while the rest of the majors slipped into the negative. Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) and BG Group (LSE: BG) slid to the bottom of the pile with losses of 3%, while Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) was down 1.1%.

Oil and gas engineering firms Amec (LSE: AMEC) and Petrofac (LSE: PFC) lost less than 1%.

Most midcaps also turned negative. Melrose was an exception with a 1.8% gain, as were Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) and Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL), which rose marginally.

Salamander Energy (LSE: SMDR) led the retreat with a 5% decline. JKX Oil and Gas (LSE: JKX), Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) and Soco International (LSE: SIA) followed with losses of 4%, 3% and 2% respectively. Premier Oil (LSE: PMO) also was in decline, shedding 1.5%.

Services companies Wood Group (LSE: WG) and Wellstream Holdings (LSE: WSM) were down 1% and 2% respectively.

Mongolia-focused Petro Matad Ltd (AIM: MATD) led the juniors with a 13% advance. Most other small caps moved in the same direction as the majors.

Western Europe operating oil and gas company Northern Petroleum (AIM: NOP) and Irish oil and gas exploration company Petroceltic International (AIM: PCI) both slipped 6%. Ukraine focused gas producer, Regal Petroleum (AIM: RPT) followed with a 5% decline, while Africa focused energy company Dominion Petroleum (AIM: DPL) retreated 4.5%.

Gold, silver and platinum recover

Gold was slightly higher today after slipping to US$1,050 from over US$1,100 per ounce last week on European debt worries and stronger US Dollar.

The yellow metal moves inversely to the US Dollar as it is seen as an alternative and riskier investment to the American currency, which has been gaining against the euro due to the persisting concerns over the debt situation in euro zone countries Greece, Spain and Portugal.

The US Dollar gave way today, helping commodities including precious metals to small gains.

Silver and platinum improved to US$15.01/oz and US$1,473/oz respectively.

Major mining stocks posted good gains today, while midcaps were down. Gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) led the sector in the FTSE 100 with a 5.5% advance. Silver and gold producer Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) and platinum miner Lonmin (LSE: LMI) followed, climbing 4% and 1.5% respectively.

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

In the FTSE 250, Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) was flat, while gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) lost less than 1% and silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) pulled back 1.8%.

Kyrgyzstan focused gold explorer and developer Chaarat Gold Holdings (AIM: CGH) performed well, gaining 9%. Commodity asset development company Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR) and Canada based junior gold developer Rambler Metals and Mining Plc (AIM: RMM) followed with gains of 5% and 4.5%, while Africa operating gold and platinum miner Goldplat (AIM: GDP) and Turkey and Ethiopia operating gold miner Stratex International (AIM: STI) gained 4% and 3.5%.

Turkey focused gold miner Ariana Resources (AIM: AAU) and Brazil focused gold miner Horizonte Minerals (AIM: HZM) headed in the opposite direction, shedding about 4%.

Copper and zinc climb

Base metals were mixed as while copper and zinc rose to US$2.87/lb and US$0.90/lb, nickel declined to US$7.72/lb.

Mining stocks were mixed. Xstrata (LSE: XTA) was in the lead with a 1.8% gain. Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) added 1.5% and BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT) tacked on nearly 1%. Anglo American (LSE: AAL) rose marginally, while Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) were flat and Vedanta resources (LSE: VED) lost 1%.

London's only listed pure iron ore producer and FTSE 250 constituent, Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) performed well, rising 1.2%.

Junior base metals focused miner didn’t show much movement today.

Banks, insurers, private equity

Financial stocks were in selling mode today. Part-nationalised Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) were at the bottom of the banking sector with losses of over 2%. Barclays (LSE: BARC) and Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) were down 1.5% and HSBC (LSE: HSBA) lost less than 1%.

Insurers also turned negative today. Aviva (LSE: AV) and Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) led the retreat, declining 4%. Prudential (LSE: PRU) was down 3%, Old Mutual (LSE: OML) slid 1% and Admiral Group (LSE: ADM) and Standard Life (LSE: SL) declined marginally. RSA Insurance Group (LSE: RSA) was flat.

Private equity group 3i (LSE: III) declined 1.5%.

Small Cap Movers

Other notable movers among the small caps included emerging speciality pharmaceutical company Alliance Pharma (AIM: APH), which rallied 16%, environmental science and technology company Accsys Technologies (AIM: AXS) with a 7.5% gain, bio-pharmaceutical company specialising in the development of differentiated biologicals, vaccines and siRNA delivery Lipoxen (AIM: LPX), which added 6% after securing an EU patent for its polysialic acid technology StimuXen and Seeing Machines (AIM: SEE), which rose 8%.

Large and Mid Cap News

A Lamprell (LSE: LAM) led consortium has received a new contract from a leading oil and gas operator in India. The company’s share of the deal is worth US$39.4 million.

Ultra Electronics (LSE: ULE) has signed a new £120 million bank facility to replace an existing facility of the same size, which was set to mature in November 2010, while the new one will not be due until September 2013.

BSS Group (LSE: BTSM) has announced the acquisition of specialist distributor of below ground drainage and civils equipment UGS Limited for a total consideration of £5.1 million including assumed debt to expand its reach in the drainage market.

Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) and Heritage Oil Plc (LSE: HOIL) confirmed that Eni SPA has terminated its agreement to purchase Heritage Oil’s interests in Uganda. The initial agreement was made on the 18 December 2009, before Heritage’s JV partner Tullow exercised its pre-emption rights on 26 January 2010 and effectively blocked the deal.

FTSE 100 mining company Anglo American (LSE: AAL) is set to trim its debt after fully subscribing to its entitlement to the rights offer announced by its subsidiary Anglo Platinum, which is aiming to raise US$1.6 billion.

Swiss miner Xstrata (LSE: XTA) announced its preliminary full year results today, saying its H2 profit almost got wiped out, plummeting 97% year-on-year as metal prices declined, though the company responded by delivering cost savings of US$501 million representing a 5% reduction in the operating cost base.

Small Cap News

International oil and gas exploration and production company Elixir Petroleum (ASX: EXR) has expanded its European portfolio with the acquisition of the large Moselle Permit located in the East Paris Basin, onshore North-eastern France.

Seeing Machines (AIM: SEE) today published a newsletter to shareholders to give an update on the development of its key products including the fatigue monitoring system Driver State Sensor (DSS) , which has achieved positive results in trials last year. The company said that the momentum in fleet management is currently shifting to its target market of fleet management systems dealing with driver monitoring.

Xcite Energy (AIM, TSX-V: XEL) has appointed book-runners to conduct an equity placing to finance the development of its Bentley oil field in the North Sea. The company estimates that approximately C$50m is required in total. To facilitate the equity financing the company hired Arbuthnot Securities in the UK and Octagon Capital Corporation and CIBC World Markets in Canada.

Obtala Resources (AIM: OBT) said that alluvial diamond mining has re-commenced on the newly acquired Konoma alluvial diamond operation in Sierra Leone after completing a review and maintenance programme of both the 2Mtpa (million tonnes per annum) dense medium separation (DMS) plant and the earth moving equipment.

Eco City Vehicles (AIM: ECV) has launched an electric prototype of the London-licensed Mercedes Vito taxi, which is exclusively distributed and was developed by the group with manufacturing partner Penso, Mercedes Benz UK and Zytec Automotive.

Payzone (AIM: PAYZ) said it has agreed the terms of a debt and share capital restructuring with the group's banking syndicate and private equity group Duke Street.  Receivers are being appointed and the company’s operating subsidiaries are being disposed into a newly formed company, to be controlled by Duke Street.  Existing shareholders in Payzone will not have an ongoing interest in the business.

PetroLatina (AIM: PELE) announced an updated resource estimate conducted by Ryder Scott, which put the proved, probable and possible reserves of the company at 11.40 mmboe (million barrels of oil equivalent), which is 55.5% higher than the previous estimate of 7.34 mmboe and is worth US$247 million.

North Sea oil & gas company Ithaca Energy Inc (AIM, TSX-V: IAE) said that the joint venture partners of the Athena project have initiated the oilfield's development. The partners have committed to the purchase of in long-lead equipment worth US$14.85m and a full project team has been commissioned to develop and finalise Athena’s Environmental Statement and Field Development Plan (FDP).

Bio-pharmaceutical contractor Angel Biotechnology (AIM: ABH) has signed a contract with university IP commercialisation company Fusion IP’s (AIM: FIP) latest spin-out company, Progenteq. The company will provide the newly established venture with consultancy and development services as Progenteq develops and commercialises its novel cartilage replacement therapy. The terms of the contract have not been disclosed.

Alliance Pharma (AIM: APH) said it has agreed a significantly earnings enhancing acquisition, buying a portfolio of 18 prescription products. The company has conditionally agreed to acquire certain assets of privately owned Cambridge Laboratories in a deal worth between £14.3m and £16.4m, plus an additional £1.4m for Cambridge’s product inventory.

Plant Impact (AIM: PIM) has announced an exclusive evaluation, development and distribution agreement with Arysta LifeScience Corp covering its InCa, Balance and Cocoa Stress Tolerance products, extending Plant Impact’s territorial coverage from 24 to 52 countries.

Fusion IP (AIM: FIP) has created another new spin-out company from its partnership with Cardiff University. Newly established Progenteq is developing a novel cartilage replacement, using technology developed by Professor Charlie Archer's research group at Cardiff University's School of Biosciences.

Lipoxen plc (AIM: LPX), a bio-pharmaceutical company specialising in the development of differentiated biologicals, vaccines and siRNA delivery, said it has been granted patents for its Polysialylated G-CSF StimuXen proprietary technology in six European territories: the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. The technology aims at protecting the body’s level of white blood cells which is particularly beneficial in chemotherapy patients.

The yellow metal moves inversely to the US Dollar as it is seen as an alternative and riskier investment to the American currency, which has been gaining against the euro due to the persisting concerns over the debt situation in euro zone countries Greece, Spain and Portugal.

The US Dollar gave way today, helping commodities including precious metals to small gains.

Silver and platinum improved to US$15.01/oz and US$1,473/oz respectively.

Major mining stocks posted good gains today, while midcaps were down. Gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) led the sector in the FTSE 100 with a 5.5% advance. Silver and gold producer Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) and platinum miner Lonmin (LSE: LMI) followed, climbing 4% and 1.5% respectively.

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

In the FTSE 250, Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) was flat, while gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) lost less than 1% and silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) pulled back 1.8%.

Kyrgyzstan focused gold explorer and developer Chaarat Gold Holdings (AIM: CGH) performed well, gaining 9%. Commodity asset development company Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR) and Canada based junior gold developer Rambler Metals and Mining Plc (AIM: RMM) followed with gains of 5% and 4.5%, while Africa operating gold and platinum miner Goldplat (AIM: GDP) and Turkey and Ethiopia operating gold miner Stratex International (AIM: STI) gained 4% and 3.5%.

Turkey focused gold miner Ariana Resources (AIM: AAU) and Brazil focused gold miner Horizonte Minerals (AIM: HZM) headed in the opposite direction, shedding about 4%.

The yellow metal moves inversely to the US Dollar as it is seen as an alternative and riskier investment to the American currency, which has been gaining against the euro due to the persisting concerns over the debt situation in euro zone countries Greece, Spain and Portugal.

The US Dollar gave way today, helping commodities including precious metals to small gains.

Silver and platinum improved to US$15.01/oz and US$1,473/oz respectively.

Major mining stocks posted good gains today, while midcaps were down. Gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) led the sector in the FTSE 100 with a 5.5% advance. Silver and gold producer Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) and platinum miner Lonmin (LSE: LMI) followed, climbing 4% and 1.5% respectively.

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

In the FTSE 250, Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) was flat, while gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) lost less than 1% and silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) pulled back 1.8%.

Kyrgyzstan focused gold explorer and developer Chaarat Gold Holdings (AIM: CGH) performed well, gaining 9%. Commodity asset development company Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR) and Canada based junior gold developer Rambler Metals and Mining Plc (AIM: RMM) followed with gains of 5% and 4.5%, while Africa operating gold and platinum miner Goldplat (AIM: GDP) and Turkey and Ethiopia operating gold miner Stratex International (AIM: STI) gained 4% and 3.5%.

Turkey focused gold miner Ariana Resources (AIM: AAU) and Brazil focused gold miner Horizonte Minerals (AIM: HZM) headed in the opposite direction, shedding about 4%.

Athena’s first production is being targeted for Q2 2011 with estimated initial gross production rates of 22,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd), of which 4,950 bopd are attributable net to Ithaca.

"The Athena Joint Venture Partners have seized (the) opportunity to develop Athena, which has been enabled by the recovery in oil price since Q3 2008”, Ithaca chief developments officer John Woods commented, “Ithaca as operator of the Athena Development has been working closely with the engineering services sector to negotiate competitive rates that now secure a robust project which is expected to come into production within the next two years".

Ithaca is the operator of the project with 22.5% interest, Dyas UK, a unit of privately owned Dutch conglomerate SVH Holdings, is the largest stakeholder with 47.5% of the project, German utilities group EWE Aktiengesellschaft owns 20% and Rheochem’s (AIM: RHEP) 50%-held subsidiary Zeus Petroleum has 10%.

The orders initiate the project's development phase, and the items being procured include electrical submersible pumps, subsea trees and engineering support.

The newly established project team will initially focus on the finalisation of the Environmental Statement and FDP for submission in March 2010. Ithaca expects to receive FDP approval by the authorities in July 2010. The team will also undertake the final stage negotiation of contracts for a Floating Production Storage and Offtake (FPSO) vessel, construction and provision of sub-sea facilities and drilling services.

The initial development plan consists of four production wells supported by one water injection well. To date the JV has successfully drilled three wells on Athena, which are currently suspended. The existing three wells will be re-entered and completed for production and one further well will be drilled during Q4 2010/Q1 2011. Additional wells will also be drilled from seabed locations close to existing wells to allow for ease of tie-back to a new subsea manifold.

The production will be routed to a stand-alone FPSO. Produced gas will be used to generate power on the FPSO. Other services will include additional electrical power generation, chemical injection, water treatment and injection, and system monitoring and controls. It is anticipated that all offshore installation works, including FPSO on location, will be completed by the end of Q2 2011.

The oil production will be exported via shuttle tankers.

The latest reserves report issued by Sproule International Limited for year ended December 31 2009, ascribed Proved and Probable reserves in Athena of 24.40 million barrels (mmbbls) of oil gross, of which 5.49mmbbls are attributable net to Ithaca.

The debt crisis in Greece, Portugal and Spain spurred concerns over crude demand, while also weakening the euro against the US Dollar, which made commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies to further push down the demand. The American currency slightly weekened today, helping crude to small gains.

More bearish data came out at the end of last week, when weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rose in the US, which was followed by a non-farm payrolls update from the US Labor Department, which showed a decline of 20,000 for the month of December, while an increase was expected.

In other news, gasoline prices declined to US$2.67 a gallon in the US, according to California based analyst Trilby Lundberg after losing 5.8 cents last week.

March Brent Crude slipped below $70, arriving at US$69.69/barrel, while US light, sweet crude dropped to US$71.20/barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) posted small gains, while the rest of the majors slipped into the negative. Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) and BG Group (LSE: BG) slid to the bottom of the pile with losses of 3%, while Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) was down 1.1%.

Oil and gas engineering firms Amec (LSE: AMEC) and Petrofac (LSE: PFC) lost less than 1%.

Most midcaps also turned negative. Melrose was an exception with a 1.8% gain, as were Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) and Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL), which rose marginally.

Salamander Energy (LSE: SMDR) led the retreat with a 5% decline. JKX Oil and Gas (LSE: JKX), Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) and Soco International (LSE: SIA) followed with losses of 4%, 3% and 2% respectively. Premier Oil (LSE: PMO) also was in decline, shedding 1.5%.

Services companies Wood Group (LSE: WG) and Wellstream Holdings (LSE: WSM) were down 1% and 2% respectively.

Mongolia-focused Petro Matad Ltd (AIM: MATD) led the juniors with a 13% advance. Most other small caps moved in the same direction as the majors.

Western Europe operating oil and gas company Northern Petroleum (AIM: NOP) and Irish oil and gas exploration company Petroceltic International (AIM: PCI) both slipped 6%. Ukraine focused gas producer, Regal Petroleum (AIM: RPT) followed with a 5% decline, while Africa focused energy company Dominion Petroleum (AIM: DPL) retreated 4.5%.

The debt crisis in Greece, Portugal and Spain spurred concerns over crude demand, while also weakening the euro against the US Dollar, which made commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies to further push down the demand. The American currency slightly weekened today, helping crude to small gains.

More bearish data came out at the end of last week, when weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rose in the US, which was followed by a non-farm payrolls update from the US Labor Department, which showed a decline of 20,000 for the month of December, while an increase was expected.

In other news, gasoline prices declined to US$2.67 a gallon in the US, according to California based analyst Trilby Lundberg after losing 5.8 cents last week.

March Brent Crude slipped below $70, arriving at US$69.69/barrel, while US light, sweet crude dropped to US$71.20/barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) posted small gains, while the rest of the majors slipped into the negative. Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) and BG Group (LSE: BG) slid to the bottom of the pile with losses of 3%, while Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) was down 1.1%.

Oil and gas engineering firms Amec (LSE: AMEC) and Petrofac (LSE: PFC) lost less than 1%.

Most midcaps also turned negative. Melrose was an exception with a 1.8% gain, as were Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) and Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL), which rose marginally.

Salamander Energy (LSE: SMDR) led the retreat with a 5% decline. JKX Oil and Gas (LSE: JKX), Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) and Soco International (LSE: SIA) followed with losses of 4%, 3% and 2% respectively. Premier Oil (LSE: PMO) also was in decline, shedding 1.5%.

Services companies Wood Group (LSE: WG) and Wellstream Holdings (LSE: WSM) were down 1% and 2% respectively.

Mongolia-focused Petro Matad Ltd (AIM: MATD) led the juniors with a 13% advance. Most other small caps moved in the same direction as the majors.

Western Europe operating oil and gas company Northern Petroleum (AIM: NOP) and Irish oil and gas exploration company Petroceltic International (AIM: PCI) both slipped 6%. Ukraine focused gas producer, Regal Petroleum (AIM: RPT) followed with a 5% decline, while Africa focused energy company Dominion Petroleum (AIM: DPL) retreated 4.5%.

The well has encountered two oil bearing zones, the lower zone in the Jurassic sequence at 2,355 metres and upper Cretaceous sandstone at 2,174 metres. The upper zone has interpreted net pay of 9 metres with a porosity of 23% with 8 metres perforated and a maximum flow rate equivalent to 5,436 bopd. Oil was a 37 degree API light crude and the gas-oil ratio was at 331 cubic feet of gas per barrel of oil.

Testing of the lower dolomite zone carried out in December and January flowed at rates of up to 2,803 barrels of fluid per day, with test data indicating that the reservoir has good permeability and is laterally extensive. The two tests combined for a flow rate of over 8,200 barrel of fluid per day.

Current mapping indicates that the AKD01 well is in a downdip location on the prospect Doris with approximately 56 metres of elevation updip of the well, potentially bringing the entire lower reservoir into the oil zone.

“The test results on the upper zone of AKD01 show tremendous potential. Together with the positive results on the testing of the lower zone combined production rates are extremely encouraging and this discovery marks a significant step forward in the Company’s development. We believe this is the first test of oil in this part of Kazakhstan and these results open up an area of substantial potential in our Akkulka and KulBas blocks where we have further attractive prospects,” said Chief Executive of Tethys David Robson.

The company said that the quality of the produced oil boded well for the development of the discovery, as did the shallow depth of the producing zones, expecting to achieve higher flow rates with bigger production tubing and more surface storage.

“It is still too early to assess the full potential of this exploration oil discovery but the initial results are very promising and we look forward to an exciting appraisal program and ultimately the development of this discovery,” added Robson.

Tethys’ plans for the appraisal of the Doris prospect include appraisal drilling and further seismic surveys.  The company said that the results of the AKD01 well significantly improved the exploration potential of four similar prospects mapped in the Akkulka and Kul-Bas block in proximity of Doris.

A limited trucking operation has already commenced and the oil from the well is currently being sold to local traders, who collect oil from the site for use in the local market. Further production testing on the AKD01 is planned, which will give a better understanding of the well’s potential and will assist in development planning.

Tethys is focused on oil and gas exploration and production activities in Central Asia with activities currently in the Republics of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Back in December, the company received final governmental approval for the Akkulka gas production contract in Kazakhstan, giving it exclusive rights in the production contract area for an initial period of nine years to cover phase 2 of the Kyzyloi/Akkulka gas development and pave way for gas sales. The initial planned gas flow rate from the area is 20 mmcfpd (million cubic feet per day), or 560,000 cmpd (cubic metres per day) of natural gas.

The company’s principal asset in Tajikistan is the Bokhtar production sharing contract (PSC), covering an area of 34,785 sq km (square kilometres) or 8.6 million a (acres), including almost the entire Tajik portion of the Afghan-Tajik basin, which is the eastward portion of the prolific Amu Darya basin.

Shares in the company rose 8% in early trade to 1.62 pence.

The company called 2009 a year of significant change in the automotive technology landscape, particularly for modern fleet management systems used by large fleet operators, with the momentum currently concentrating on driver monitoring, which is the focus of Seeing Machines’ DSS product suite. The suite is designed to link alerts with fleet telemetry systems to allow fleet wide management of driver drowsiness and distraction, which the company said often was the cause of severe accidents with catastrophic outcomes.

The DSS has already caught momentum, having been deployed into dozens of operations across all continents last year, including early stage deployments that provided the company with a “rich seam of prospective business for the company in the period ahead.”

The experiences during 2009 have led to considerable improvements in the DSS, helping Seeing Machines establish a solid installed base through this time and promote the product in over-the-road transport and resource industries, expecting a “very successful future” in view of the shift of the focus to driver monitoring, especially in the mining sector where the aforementioned types of accidents were particularly costly.

Over the past year, the company has supported a field study conducted by a client working in the oil field services business that collected both DSS and driver performance data within their subfleet of 18 DSS equipped heavy rigid vehicles after frequent occurrence of accidents due to driver fatigue. As a result, the rate of such events has significantly decreased as not a single event in 11 months was attributed to distraction or fatigue, and microsleeps were reduced by 54%.

Seeing Machines has also launched its vision testing device TrueField Analyzer (TFA), which was launched at the American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting and Exhibition in San Francisco last year as the first step in its commercialization plan. The next phase is to complete and publish a series of independent evaluations of the TFA undertaken by a number of experts in the field. Seeing Machines is currently working on regional market development, including evaluation and negotiation with prospective distribution and channel partners, intending to update the market on progress in due course.

Proceeds from the Convertible Note will be to repay the existing convertible note to Exchange Minerals Limited which is approximately $600,000 and the balance will be used for exploration and administrative costs.

The Convertible Note is subject to shareholder approval.

East Coast has interests in the Pilbara region, where it is exploring for precious and base metals.

East Coast's 51% owned subsidiary Energie Future and UCG Energie Future NL is actively developing a clean diesel project using Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) and proprietary partner's Fischer Tropsch gas to liquids technology.

Energie Future has applications for coal mining exploration licences over an offshore area of almost 6,000 km2 stretching from Wollongong to Port Stephens, NSW, Australia, and is currently pursuing other development opportunities in areas with high energy demands.