Gold lost nearly US$20 per ounce this week after Wednesday’s informal EU summit in Brussels failed to live up to expectations.

Germany again rejected the idea of issuing common euro area bonds, which was supported by French President Francois Hollande.

In addition, Germany’s Bundesbank said Greece’s exit from the euro zone would be manageable and warned the debt laden nation that it was unlikely to receive further financial aid if it failed to honour its obligations under the bailout deal.

Fears that Greece could exit the monetary union boosted demand for the safe haven US dollar and put pressure on gold, which is see as an alternative asset to the greenback.

Late in the week, the euro received a little support from Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.

He Greece would likely stay in the euro zone and that Italy backed the idea of issuing common euro area bonds, which received strong support at this week’s EU summit.

Gold ended the week at US$1,573/oz, down US$19 from a week ago. Silver fell to US$28.53/oz from US$28.72/oz, while platinum rose to US$1,428/oz from US$1,451/oz.

Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) surged from 4,894 pence to 5,130 pence over the past five days of trading, while fellow FTSE 100 constituent, silver miner Fresnillo (LON:FRES), dropped from 1,358 pence to 1,317 pence.

In the FTSE 250, platinum miner Lonmin (LON:LMI) slipped from 778 pence to 729 pence and gold producer African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) was flat at 338.3 pence.

Oil prices fell this week as concerns about the euro zone debt crisis outweighed disappointing results of talks between Iran and six world powers over its controversial nuclear programme.

The negotiations between the Middle Eastern nation and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, which took place in Baghdad this week, failed to result in any progress towards resolving the nuclear crisis.

The sides have agreed to hold another round of negotiations next month.

In the meantime, it was reported that Iran, which is accused of illegally developing an atomic weapon, has stepped up its uranium enrichment programme and has enough material to build five nuclear bombs.

The impact from concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme was offset by weak economic data that came out in China this week. on Thursday, HSBC said its China PMI index dropped to 48.7 from 49.3 in April, marking the seventh monthly contraction in a row..

Only a day later, Bloomberg reported that Chinese banks could miss their lending targets this year amid falling demand for credit, adding to concerns that growth in the world’s second largest economy is slowing at a faster pace than expected.

In the meantime, the results of Wednesday’s EU summit disappointed as Germany refused to change its position on common euro area bonds and repeated that Greece needs ti impose further austerity measures to receive more financial aid.

US light, sweet crude for July delivery, currently the most actively traded contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), ended the week at US$90.86/barrel.

July Brent crude closed at US$106.83/barrel on the ICE Exchange yesterday.

BP (LON:BP.) rose from 391.5 pence to 407.35 pence over the past five days of trading and fellow supermajor Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB) rallied from 2,044 pence to 2,081 pence.

Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) advanced from 1,336 pence to 1,395 pence, while BG Group (LON:BG.) rallied from 1,245 pence to 1,266 pence.

This week’s news in the FTSE 100 included full year results form retailers Marks & Spencer (LONL:MKS) and Burberry (LON:BRBY).

Marks & Spencer reported that its profits fell for the first time in three years as it also cut sales growth targets for the current year because of the uncertain economic outlook.

The clothing and luxury food group now expects to increase revenue by £1.1 billion to £1.7 billion next year after originally targeting growth of £2.5 billion.

Pre-tax profits for the year to the end March fell 16 per cent to £658 million compared to last year’s figure of £781 million.

Total group sales were up 2 per cent at £9.9 billion, while in the UK the company reported an increase in like-for-like sales of 0.3 per cent, driven by a strong performance by food.

The report from Burberry showed that the fashion house posted a jump in profits last year as it targeted male shoppers and continued to expand around the world.

Underlying pre-tax profit increased 26 per cent to £376 million in the year ended 31 March while sales rose by 24 per cent to £1.86 billion. 

Although revenue grew in all regions, Asia Pacific was the largest contributing region accounting for 37 per cent of retail and wholesale sales.

Burberry introduced new tailoring services as well as marketing and merchandising initiatives, which resulted in a 26 per cent increase in menswear, and 24 per cent increase in retail/wholesale revenue.

Beverage group SABMiller (LON:SAB) and Vodafone (LON:VOD) also reported their full year results this week.

The owner of the Grolsch and Miller brands said lager volumes were three percent ahead of the previous year at 229 hectolitres, while soft drinks volumes rose seven percent to 49 million hectolitres.

Group revenues climbed 11 percent to US$31.4 billion and pre-tax profits jumped 55 percent to US$5.6 billion, while earnings per share soared 74 percent to 266.6 cents.

“I am delighted to report another year of significant progress and strong results,” said chairman of SABMiller Meyer Kahn.

“Through our successful marketing, portfolio development and commercial execution we continued to build on our position in the world's developing consumer economies.

“Strong profit growth continued, driven by an organic total volume increase of 4% and complemented by favourable mix and pricing.”

In the meantime, telecom giant Vodafone warned profits will remain flat next year reflecting the difficult European consumer environment.

Adjusted operating profit, which was £11.5 billion this year, is expected to be between £11.1 billion and £11.9 billion in 2013. 

Pre-tax profits rose 0.5 per cent to £9.6 billion in the year to end March, but fell by 10 per cent on an underlying basis.

A strong performance from the company’s 45 per cent-owned US arm Verizon Wireless helped boost revenue by 1.2 per cent to £46.4 billion.

In other news in the top flight, oil and gas engineering firm AMEC (LON:AMEC) revealed that it is in talks with Serco Group (LON:SRP) about the acquisition of Serco's nuclear Technical Consulting Services (TCS) business.

 TCS provides consulting and project solutions primarily to the UK civil and defence nuclear markets and has annual revenues of around £70 million.

“There is no certainty that a transaction will proceed. A further announcement will be made in due course,” AMEC told investors this week.

Peer Petrofac (LON:PFC), has secured a US$220 million contract from Malaysian state owned company Petronas for the refurbishment of the Bekok-C platform in Block PM9.

“This project also represents a considerable step forward for Petrofac as we develop our leading engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) capability offshore through our Offshore Project & Operations business,” said chief executive of Petrofac’s ECOM division Marwan Chedid.

In the banking sector, Barclays (LON:BARC) revealed plans to sell its US$6.1 billion stake in BlackRock.

The disposal is by way of an offering and a related buy-back by the US-based asset manager BlackRock.

BlackRock unveiled the beginning of a secondary offering of its common stock and said it plans to buy back $1billion of its own stock.

The shares being offered by Barclays will be sold in an underwritten public offering.

This week’s research included a note on BP (LON:BP.) from Credit Suisse, which said the oil and gas supermajor is back on the road to recovery and its shares now offer “attractive” value for investors.

And after the recent share price fall, the broker reckons the stock should appeal to investors.

Its target price of 540 pence, trimmed by 10 pence this week, still offers significant upside value despite struggling to move on from the Macondo oil spill in 2010.

“Investors have been frustrated by lack of newsflow on Macondo and the absence of visible earnings recovery, but we believe both elements are now finally within reach,” Credit Suisse said.

The broker added the company is not getting enough credit from the market for its stronger cashflow growth from recovery in high-margin regions such as the Gulf of Mexico.

The broker estimates BP’s volume growth will be “sluggish” in the next two to three years at less than one per cent a year.

However, it believes after two years of transition, positive momentum should see a comeback in the second half of this year.

On Friday, Cape (LON:CIU) was the worst performer in the FTSE 250 index, losing more than a third of its value in early trade after announcing that it will take a £14 million charge relating to the GL3-Z LNG project in Arzew in Algeria.

As a result, the group’s full year profit will miss expectations.

Investors ran for the hills this week with shares in Cape plummeting 36 percent to 207.9 pence by 9:20 am.

The contract, which was awarded to Cape in 2010, is for the provision of insulation works for the Sonatrach GL3-Z LNG Project.

Cape has previously said that the timing on the Arzew project had been slower than expected and revenues in 2011 were at less than a third of planned levels.

A further review in May identified additional costs, which are expected to produce a significant loss.

In contrast, Cable & Wireless Communications (LON:CWC) was atop the leaderboard in the midcap index on Thursday after reporting a strong set of full year results.

The telecom group saw revenues jump 18 percent to US$2.9 billion in the year to end March with mobile data revenues soaring 82 percent, while earnings rose five percent to US$901 million.

Cable & Wireless has decided to cut its full year dividend by half to four cents, which it said should enable it to “invest and achieve attractive returns”.

Meanwhile, capital expenditure is expected to reduce to around US$350 this year from US$409 million in the previous year, following increased investment in high-speed mobile data networks.

“These results demonstrate the strength of our portfolio and ability to perform despite the difficult economic and market conditions across a number of the countries in which we operate,” said chief executive of Cable & Wireless Tony Rice.

Mothercare (LON:MTC) also reported its full year figures this week.

The retailer of goods for young children and expectant mothers reported that sales in the year to end March reached £812.7 million, up 2.4 percent from the previous year.

Mothercare noted that sales at its international business jumped 17.8 percent to £672.4 million, offsetting a 4.6 percent decline in UK sales to £560 million.

However, despite the surge in revenues, the group swung to a loss of £103 million from an £8.8 million profit in 2010.

The loss was due to exceptional charges of £104.4 million including a £55 million writedown of its Early Learning Centre chain as well as other restructuring costs.

“This has been a tough year for Mothercare and we have completed a comprehensive review of the business,” said chairman of Mothercare Alan Parker.

Staying in the retail sector, online fashion store ASOS (LON:ASC) increased revenue and profit last year as it rolled its website out to more international shoppers.

During the final quarter, ended 31 March, group revenue was up 33 per cent from the same period last year.

Retail sales at the trendy website increased 49 per cent during the year, driven by 103 per cent growth in international sales. Meanwhile sales in the UK increased 7 per cent.

Chief executive Nick Robertson called it "another strong year" for the company which also saw pre-tax profits jump 43 per cent to £40.9 million.

ASOS named Australia, Russia, Singapore and China as sales boosting countries, while new websites were launched in Italy, Spain and Australia.This year the company said it will introduce more small in-country teams to improve marketing in countries where it has websites.

Staying with retailers, FTSE 250 online grocer Ocado (LON:OCD) said it expects to see year on year sales growth of around 13 percent in the second quarter.

The group added that operational performance at the group’s Hatfield customer fulfilment centre (CFC) continues to improve and is now operating at a record level of capacity.

The construction of Ocado’s second CFC at Dordon, Warwickshire, is progressing according to plan, with testing and commissioning due to start this summer and operations are expected to start in the first quarter of 2013.

Elsewhere in the markets, troubled travel company Thomas Cook (LON:TCG) has appointed a new chief executive with previous experience in “strategic change”.

Current Premier Farnell (LON:PFL) chief Harriet Green will succeed Sam Weihagen as group chief executive on 30 July 2012. Weihagen will remain with the group until 30 September.

Green has been credited with turning the electronic parts distributer from a catalogue to online business.

Thomas Cook said: “At Premier Farnell she has overseen a period of significant strategic change, driving industry leading returns and creating a cost-effective multi-channel operation where the majority of business is now transacted through ecommerce channels.” 

Debt-laden Thomas Cook has issued three profit warnings in the last 18 months.

Meanwhile, construction group Interserve (LON:IRV), which is a constituent of the FTSE 250 index, updated investors about contract wins, including one at the new Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool.

The firm announced the financial close of a £150 million PFI deal with West Yorkshire police.

It also revealed a new contract for the new Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool to provide facilities management worth £50 million.

In West Yorkshire, the deal is to design, build, finance and operate two new divisional headquarters along with custody suites, and a specialist operational training facility.

Its signing comes less than two months after the Interserve-led consortium was appointed preferred bidder.

At Alder Hey, the new hospital will be built next door to the current site. Once the building is constructed the existing Alder Hey will be demolished and turned into a replacement park, the firm said.

Fellow FTSE 250 company, electronics and maintenance products distributor Electrocomponents (LON:ECM), increased its pre-tax profit to £122.3 million in the year to end-March 2012 from £114 million a year earlier, on revenue of £1.267 billion, up from £1.182 million.

In a statement, the company said the growth is broad-based, with all regions and both electronics and maintenance performing well, and driven by the success of its eCommerce channel, which grew its revenues by 18 percent and accounted for over half of group sales.

The International business showed a year-on-year growth of 9 per cent and now contributes more than 70 per cent of total sales.

In other news, utility group Telecom Plus (LON:TEP) expects to achieve another significant increase in earnings after seeing its profits surge 11.8 percent in the year to end March.

During the year, revenues reached £471.5 million, up 12.6 percent from the previous year, resulting in an 11.8 percent surge in pre-tax profits to £30.7 million.

Earnings per share climbed 12.3 percent to 33.8 pence, prompting the company to raise its full year dividend to 27 pence per share.

Food company Cranswick (LON:CWK) and support services group MITIE Group (LON:MTO) also reported higher full year revenues and pre-tax profits.

The figures form Cranswick showed an eight percent increase in revenues to £821 million for the year to end March following a “strong recover in the second half from first half challenges”.

Pre-tax profits reached £48.4 million, up three percent from a year earlier, and earnings per share increased to 72.8 pence from 72.8 pence.

The group added that underlying sales were up 10 percent, reflecting growth across most product sectors.

“Against a background of strong raw material price increases early in the financial year and a continued challenging environment for the consumer, the company recovered strongly during the second half and recorded its highest ever sales and second best trading profit in its history,” said chairman of Cranswick Martin Davey.

The report from MITIE, which also covered the year to end March, revealed an 8.9 percent increase in pre-tax profits to £94.5 million on revenues of £2 billion, up 5.9 percent from the previous year.

MITIE said its organic order book has increased 26 percent to £8.6 billion from a year earlier, while the pipeline of potential bid activity stands at £11.2 billion and the group has already secured 83 percent of the revenue budgeted for 2012/13.

Back to small caps, Iofina (LON:IOF) this week announced that it has raised £4.3 million in new funding through a share placing.

Separately, the group reported record sales in 2011 which allowed the company to halve losses as it prepares to scale up production going forward.

Through the placing it is issuing 11.5 million shares priced at 37.5p each - a slight premium to yesterday’s closing price. 

The new capital allows Iofina to continue rolling out its WET IOsorb iodine extraction technology without delay as part of its effort to scale up production.

“With the uncertainty in the global markets, the directors believe it is prudent for the company to be fully funded in order to maximise its business plan,” the company said.

In the biotech sector, Alliance Pharma (LON:APH) told shareholders that it has a “healthy pipeline” of acquisition opportunities.

The company owns or licenses the rights to more than 50 pharmaceutical products which it sells mostly in the UK and which is has acquired through acquisition.

Turnover during the first four months of 2012 was £14.3 million, which it said was in line with its expectations.

However the figure excludes the cyclical toxicology product contract, scheduled to get underway is the second half of 2012.

Ultimately this will mean the company, which sells branded medicines, is likely to expect a stronger second half.

In the meantime, drug discovery and development company e-Therapeutics (LON:ETX) expects to see the first findings from its new programme of clinical trials before the end of this year. 

By then, it should have phase II data on one drug and phase I data on two more.

It booked a pre-tax loss of £3.86 million in the year to January 31 2012 compared with a loss of £2.66 million a year earlier. 

The results reflect increasing investment in drug discovery and drug development.

The company raised £16.7 million through a share placing last year and has £14 million in cash, which will support all the drug discovery and development plans the company currently has into 2014.

Ariana Resources (LON:AAU) was one of the top performers in Lonodn markets at the start of the week after returning bonanza gold and silver grades from its latest drilling in western Turkey.

The highlight from the Arzu North and South veins in the Kiziltepe sector of the Red Rabbit Project was a 12.1 metre section at 13.1 grams of tonne of gold and 187.6 grams of silver. 

This included 3.2 metres at 38.7 grams of gold and 511 grams of silver and a one metre section at almost 66 grams of gold and 760 grams of silver.

Other intercepts included 34 metres at 1.04 grams of gold equivalent, 7.6 metres at 7.6 grams and 5.8 metres at 5.71 grams.

The City broker Fairfax said: “This is good news for Ariana who are proving up further mineralisation at the Kiziltepe deposit. 

“These high grade drilling results underscore the resource potential at the Red Rabbit project with scope for the JORC resource to expand from the current 448,000 ounces. 

“The company will now be focusing on identifying optimal drilling positions before forestry permits are obtained for a deeper drilling programme in the area.”

Fellow gold miners Stratex International (LON:STI) and Kryso Resources (LON:KYS) also had positive news to report to investors this week.

Stratex said its said the chip sampling programme at ate Pandora gold vein in Djibouti had produced the best results so far seen in the Afar region in the East African country. 

David Hall, executive director for East Africa, said the latest samples confirmed the potential for a high grade gold discovery in the region.

"These extremely exciting results are now the best surface sampling results of any discovery to date in the Afar epithermal province,” he added.

Multi-gramme gold grades showed continuity over more than 1,000 metres of strike, together with well-defined high-grade portions within the structure, he said.

A number of samples returned over 10g/t gold, including a best of 20.35 g/t over 1.9 metres and 12.17g/t over 2.07 metres.

Mineralisation included 13.9 metres at 5.35 g/t, 23.28 metres at 1.52 g/t and 18.31 metres at 1.43g/t.

Stratex is exploring the Afar province with its strategic partner Thani Ashanti, a joint venture between Anglogold Ashanti and Dubai –based Thani.

Meanwhile, Kryso said its largest shareholder is to provide the funds for the construction of the Pakrut gold mine in Tajikistan. 

China Nonferrous Metals Int’l Mining (CNMIM) will put up US$93.5 million in loans and exercise share warrants to raise a further £15.4 million (US$24 million).

Exercising the warrants, at 21 pence, will take CNMIM’s stake to 40.7 per cent from 26 per cent currently, but as Kryso’s central place of control is now deemed to be outside of the UK, the Chinese group will not have to make an offer for the rest of the shares. 

Craig Brown, Kryso's managing director , said: “We are delighted to have secured the debt financing requirement for the Pakrut project given the current challenging debt markets.

Mine construction is already progressing well and, with debt financing now confirmed, we are on track to commence production in the second half of 2013.”

Kryso owns 100 per cent of Pakrut, which is situated approximately 12km northeast of the capital city Dushanbe.

Staying with gold miners, Medusa Mining (LON:MML) is in a year of “transition” its chairman said as it progresses along a five year growth plan to more than quadruple its current gold output.

At a presentation to Proactive Investors, Geoffrey Davis confirmed output this year from its Co-O mine in the Philippines will be 60-65,000 ounces of gold rising to 200,000 ounces per year by 2014.

In addition to the Co-O mine, it is also developing its Bananghilig open pit deposit to start production in 2015.

Co-O is a narrow vein underground mine in the south east island of Mindanao with an exploration target size estimated to be between 3 and 7 million ounces. 

Davis said: “We are getting very close to the 3 million ounces [resources] mark and we are getting nowhere near to the end of this deposit.”

Another gold miner, Anglo Asian Mining (LON:AAZ), said it made “excellent” progress in 2011, reporting a 60 percent jump in full year profits.

The precious metals focused mining group, which owns the Gedabek gold-copper mine in Azerbaijan, said profits increased to US$31.6 million from US$19.8 million in 2010 and revenues reached US$83.8 million, up from US$72 million in 2010.

Total gold production declined to 57,068 ounces from 67,267 ounces, resulting in a decrease in gold sales to 49,304 ounces from 57,398 ounces. However, average sales prices improved to US$1,573 per ounce from US$1,241 per ounce in 2010.

In the first quarter of 2012, gold production reached 9,925 ounces and the group remains on track to produce 54,000 ounces for the full year.

Griffin Mining (LON:GFM) announced this week continued "excellent" drilling results from the Caijiaying mine in China, demonstrating the increasing size of the ore body.

It comes two days after the firm unveiled a 32 per cent increase in the resource estimate for the mine to 51.2 million tonnes.

The latest assays were not included in that JORC resource, the company said.

Highlights among the gold assays included 11 metres with 8.98 g/t gold and 12.63 per cent zinc. Also uncovered from the underground diamond drill programme was 5.6 metres at 11.90 g/t gold and 9.66 per cent zinc.

The best zinc finds included 25.4 metres with 15.50 per cent zinc and 11 metres at 10.21 per cent zinc.

Elsewhere in the sector, Uranium Resources (LON:URA) is “extremely encouraged” by the latest drilling results from the Mtonya uranium project in Tanzania. 

Ongoing drilling at the project is generating both high grade and wide intercepts, which the company said suggests potential for excellent in-situ recovery.

The drill results unveiled by the comany this week included intersections of one metre grading 397 parts per million (ppm) uranium, four metres at 460 ppm uranium and 329 ppm uranium across 3.8 metres.

Uranium Resources noted that three holes have intercepted previously unknown roll-fronts in Tier 1, which is interpreted to occur at depths of 150 to 220 metres.

“We have intersected considerably higher grades and greater thicknesses than we have achieved before and discovered Tier 1 roll-fronts,” said managing director of Uranium Resources Alex Gostevskikh.

In the meantime, Baobab Resources (LON:BAO) this week said it was very pleased with the progress being made at the Ruoni flats part of its flagship Tete iron ore project in Mozambique.

The company’s current drilling programme on the Ruoni flats area has encountered a heavily mineralised package, around 100 metres thick.

It says this ‘clearly represents’ a down-dip continuation to the Ruoni North and Tenge resource blocks, which already provides over 300 million tonnes of the Tete project’s 482 million tonne resource.

The programme is now nearing a conclusion following the completion of 7,500 metres of drilling.

The Ruoni Flats area is a 120-260 million tonne resource target, Baobab said.

In other news, Ncondezi Coal (LON:NCCL) this week unveiled a major overhaul of its board, including the appointment of a new chairman and chief executive, ahead of the development of its coal project in Mozambique’s Tete Province.

Michael Haworth, a former managing director of mining and metals corporate finance at the blue-chip American bank JP Morgan, becomes chairman, replacing Richard Stuart, who will remain on the board as a non-executive director.

So too will CEO Graham Mascall, who will be replaced in that role by the company’s chief operating officer, Nigel Walls. 

Paul Venter, who has 39 years mining experience across Africa, Mongolia, China and Russia, has been drafted in as COO.

In his role TSX-listed Prophecy Coal Corp Venter oversaw the successful commissioning of the Ulaan Ovoo coal mine in Mongolia just six months after acquiring the asset.

Finally, VANE Minerals (LON:VML) provided a resource estimate for the La Colorada Mine in Mexico, showing total indicated and inferred tonnes of 43,460.

The update, though not NI43-101 compliant, means the firm is confident its Mexican operations will continue producing gold and silver in the medium term.

And based on the current production levels at the mine, means the resource could supply the firm's SDA Mill for at least the next 17 months.

VANE also released, separately, an update on copper exploration in south western USA.

The Colorada resource is open at depth and consists of 16,507 tonnes at grades of 6 g/t gold and 116 g/t silver in the indicated category. 

Inferred resources stand at 26,953 tonnes with grades of 5.3 g/t gold and 144 g/t silver.

Chief executive David Newton said the estimate provided management with confidence that its Mexican operations will continue to produce gold and silver in the medium term and provide the company with revenue towards the pursuit of its exploration projects in Arizona and New Mexico.

US Oil & Gas (GXG:USOP) was among the most followed stocks in the oil and gas sector on Friday after its shares rocketed on news that the Eblana-1 exploration well in Nevada has encountered what it believes to be live light oil.

On the same day, Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) updated investors on its closely followed exploration campaign in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq as it announced that the Sheikh Adi-2 well had been spudded.

Some 1.45 kilometres north of the first well on the block it will be drilled to a depth of 2,450 metres and will target the prospective intervals in the Jurassic formation.

Sheikh Adi-1 was a much deeper exploration well and was drilled to 3,800 metres last August.

And based on the well logs from the Cretaceous, Jurassic and the upper Triassic formations, Dynamic Global Advisors estimated there were one to three million barrels of oil in place across the Sheikh Adi field.

Analysis of 3D data suggests Sheikh Adi-2 is targeting a more tightly folded structure which is more likely to have a well-developed system of natural fractures.

John Gerstenlauer, Gulf Keystone's Chief Operating Officer, said: "Sheikh Adi-2 is a significant addition to our extremely active 2012/2013 drilling programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.”

Back to US Oil & Gas, the company said the Eblana-1 well had been drilled to a depth of 7,474 feet (2,278 metres). Oil shows and samples indicate multiple potential hydrocarbon pay zones.

USOP currently estimates that the well has encountered oil shows over a gross section of up to 1,000 feet (304 metres). And it says that the possible net pay zones range from 100 to 300 feet (30.5 to 91 metres).

The company said that it recorded good hydrocarbon background gas with several high gas peaks. And at several intervals, analysis of recovered fluid samples indicated light oil, with evidence of sweet gas at the shaker.

Furthermore separate tests saw good light gravity oil recovered at the surface, USOP said.

"We are highly encouraged by the results of our drill thus far and look forward keenly to the next stages in our exploration process,” chief executive Brian McDonnell told investors.

The company added that further oil shows have been encountered in deeper reservoir horizons that are currently being drilled.

Meanwhile, Leni Gas & Oil (LON:LGO) said it expected a work-over programme to get underway in Trinidad on the weekend.

Following an earlier announcement on Monday the company told investors that the rig is due to arrive on site in the coming days and the programme will begin immediately upon its arrival.

Up to five wells will be re-entered and improved as part of the programme. And initial results are expected within a matter of weeks.

"We are immensely pleased to be able to commence work in the field and after reviewing a number of options these five wells have been selected for a trial program of work-overs,” said chief executive Neil Ritson.

“Results and incremental production estimates should be available within a few weeks."

Leni Gas & Oil says the first three wells in the programme are typical of many of the 150 existing wells on the Goudron field, which were drilled prior to the 1980’s.  And it estimates that the three wells collectively have production potential of 35 barrels of oil per day.

Each of the wells has shallower zones in the Lower Goudron sandstones and deeper zones in the Gros Morne formation.

The initial wells will be re-entered, cleaned out and re-completed during the programme.

In other news in oil and gas, Providence Resources (LON:PVR) revealed on Thursday that horizontal drilling could significantly lift the productivity of its Barryroe oil discovery.

Analysis by Schlumberger during well testing suggests a 1,000-metre horizontal well could deliver initial production of 12,500 barrels of oil a day and 11 million cubic feet of gas (the equivalent of 14,300 barrels of oil).

This is a huge leap forward for Barryroe, which is located 50 kilometres off the southern coast of Ireland, and which more importantly has already delivered better than expected initial data from well 48/24-10z.

To illustrate just how far the latest update takes us, you have to look back at the original report on the field prepared by independent consultants RPS Energy.

This suggested it would require 13 vertical wells producing the predicted 1,800 barrels of oil a day to establish peak production of 20,000 barrels a day.

Based on the update this landmark could be achieved with just one-and-a-half horizontal wells.

The Schlumberger analysis does more than suggest horizontal drilling of Barryroe as a theoretical possibility. 

It points to the highly permeable nature of the oil and gas bearing sandstone and the mobility of the oil and offers it as a real alternative to vertical drilling. 

Providence technical director John O’Sullivan said: “We had anticipated that we were dealing with a high productivity oil system both in terms of oil mobility and reservoir development. 

“(The announcement) has further highlighted Barryroe's Basal sands prospectivity,” said City firm Fox-Davies in a note to clients.”

In the meantime, supermajor Shell (LON:RDSB) this week refused to give up the chase for East Africa-focused junior Cove Energy (LON:COV).

The group’s offer for Cove has been extended until 1pm on 13 June, sparking rumours it will yet come back with a higher bid.

Cove shareholders originally had until 1pm on Wednesday to decide whether to agree to Shell’s £1.12 bln,220 pence a share deal, just hours after Thai energy group PTT Exploration and Production had topped it with a £1.22 billion cash bid for the Mozambique-focused company.

The Anglo-Dutch firm is now considering its options and will announce its intentions in due course.

The offer from PTT split brokers over the possibility of a renewed bidding war.

While some reckon Shell could walk away from the deal, others are confident the company will come back with a higher offer.

Westhouse Securities said that while Shell may yet table a higher bid, it thinks this is “unlikely” and sees PTT prevailing.

Investec analyst Stuart Joyner on the other hand believes Shell has the flexibility to improve its offer to around 300 pence a share “based on the recent resource upgrade alone”.

Earlier in the week, Silvermere Energy (LON:SLME) said it expected production from the Mustang Island gas condensate field off the coast of Texas to begin this summer.

It follows the documented delays to the construction of a platform for the I-1 well, which have recently been resolved.

Chief executive Andy Morrison said the business, which listed on AIM in August, has come a long way in a short space of time.

“The company will soon be a gas and condensate producer and we look forward to expanding through the identification of at or near production, secondary and tertiary oil and natural gas opportunities onshore or shallow offshore the US,” he added.

In other news in oil and gas, Matra Petroleum (LON:MTA) appointed Maxim Barskiy as its new CEO, while Chariot Oil & Gas (LON:CHAR) has secured the Ocean Rig Poseidon drill ship to drill the Kabeljou well on the Nimrod prospect offshore Namibia.

Barskiy, who has previously served as deputy chief executive of Russian major TNK-BP, will replace Peter Hind, who will resign from the board at the end of May.

Back in April, Barskiy purchased 575 million new shares in the company at 0.8 pence per share worth £4.6 million, giving him a 29.8 percent stake.

Matra said his involvement was expected to ‘significantly enhance’ the new venture opportunities available to Matra including potential acquisition opportunities in Russia in the short term and potential expansion internationally in the medium term.

Since Barskiy’s appointment to the board, shares in the company have more than doubled from 1.1 pence.

“I and my fellow directors at Matra extend a warm welcome to Maxim Barskiy as Matra's new CEO, and value his long experience in the energy sector,” said chairman of Matra Michael Jenkins.

The report from Chariot said the Poseidon is anticipated to arrive on location in July this year and the drilling operations will begin shortly thereafter with the well expected to take two months to drill.

This is the second well to be drilled in Chariot's four to five exploration well programme in Namibia.

The Nimrod prospect is located in the Orange Basin in Southern Block 2714A, where Chariot has a 25 percent interest.

“We are very pleased to be advancing with our drilling programme and eagerly anticipate the spud of the Kabeljou well with our partners,” said chief executive of Chariot Paul Welch.

“Nimrod is one of the biggest prospects due to be drilled worldwide this year and we look forward to being able to update the market with further news on this hugely significant well in due course.” 

Elsewhere in the sector, Roxi Petroleum (LON:RXP) said its NK7 well on NW konys field appeared to have encountered oil bearing zones.

Preliminary interpretation of logs from well NK7, which was spudded on the NW Konys field in late April, indicated that it has encountered oil bearing zones in the lower Cretaceous and upped Jurassic sands.

Evaluation work continues and, once the interpretation of the wireline logging with coring data has been completed Roxi and its partner LGI will select perforation intervals for testing by a work-over rig.

NK7 is the first of six wells expected to be drilled across Roxi’s assets before the end of the year.

The previous well drilled on NW Konys, NK6, has achieved a production rate of 155 barrels of oil per day.

However, the plan is subject to shareholder ratification within six months in order to remain in place.

The plan is designed to protect shareholders and provide them with adequate time to consider and evaluate any unsolicited bid made for the company.

The rights will become exercisable only if a person, together with its affiliates, associates and joint actors, acquires or announces its intention to acquire beneficial ownership of shares which when aggregated with its current holdings total 20 per cent or more of the company's outstanding common shares, other than by a "Permitted Bid", Extorre said.

The rights would entitle the holder to purchase Extorre common shares at a substantial discount to their then prevailing market price.

Permitted bids under the plan must be made by way of a take-over bid circular prepared in compliance with applicable securities laws, and be made to all shareholders of the company for all common shares, and must remain open for a minimum of 60 days.

The company said it plans to hold a shareholders' meeting to approve the plan within six months.
Last week, Extorre said it was “encouraged by many of the early results” as it intersected more high-grade drill targets at its Cerro Moro project in the Santa Cruz province of Argentina.

Significant results from in-fill holes that the company completed at the Zoe target include hole MD1552, which intersected 5.00 metres at 54.0 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 7,155 g/t silver (197.1 g/t gold equivalent), including 2.45 metres at 109.3 g/t gold and 13,561 g/t silver (380.5 g/t gold equivalent).

In early April, Extorre announced the results of a preliminary economic assessment for potential mine development at Cerro Moro.

The study, which was based on a NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate from November, modelled a nine year mine to produce 850,000 gold ounces and 47 million ounces of silver.

This proposed mine would produce an average of 248,036 ounces gold equivalent per year for the first five years, at a cash cost of US$303 per gold equivalent, with a 1,300 tonne per day throughput.

In this scenario, the mine has a 24-month payback period and pretax internal rate of return of 63 percent and a pretax net present value, at a five percent discount, of $737.4 million.

At Cerro Moro, exploration with four drills is ongoing. The program is designed to boost total resources and to in-fill some areas for mine planning.

The November 2011 resource estimate for Cerro Morro gives indicated resources of 1.35 million ounces gold equivalent, comprising 2.42 million tonnes (Mt) at 7.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 498 g/t silver, for a gold equivalent grade of 17.4 g/t.

In the inferred category, the new estimate consists of 1.05 million ounces gold equivalent, comprising 4.74 Mt at 3.5 g/t gold and 172 g/t silver for a gold equivalent grade of 6.9 g/t gold.

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) again made headlines today after it was reported that investment giant Morgan Stanley is in the process of adjusting prices on thousands of trades made in the social network giant.

Morgan Stanley was the lead underwriter in the mega Facebook float on Friday May 18.

The public float went off with much fanfare but controversy and speculation has dominated proceedings in its wake.

According to reports from sources close to the situation, Morgan has told its financial advisers that it will adjust prices on a "few thousand" Facebook trades.

Also that limit orders (where an order is placed to buy or sell at a specific price) placed by retail brokerage clients wouldn't be filled at $43 a share or higher.

On the day of the IPO, shares spiked after the flotation, which had been priced at US$38 a share, valuing the company at US$104 billion,

It did reach as high as $45 a share but it quickly gave back the gains made and the stock closed up just 23 cents.

Last week, the shares fell fairly steadily and closed yesterday around the US$33 mark - representing a wipe-off of its value of around $15 billion from the website's value.

This week, shareholders began filing lawsuits against Morgan Stanley and other banks involved in the underwriting process, as well as against Facebook and its founder, 28-year-old Mark Zuckerberg.

Two other articles by Proactive were dedicated to oil and gas companies US Oil & Gas (GXG:USOP), whose shares rocketed today after the group reported that the Eblana-1 exploration well in Nevada has encountered what it believes to be live light oil, and Madagascar Oil (LON:MOIL).

February’s US$26.5 million fundraising marked something of a watershed in the short but eventful history of MOIL.

The placing proceeds provided the group with all its financial requirements through to mid 2014, including the funds needed for the testing phase of the steam flood pilot on the Tsimiroro project.

However, the cash call was important and symbolic on a number of other levels too. 

First, it showed there is significant support for Madagascar’s vision for Tsimiroro, which has the potential to be a world-class heavy oil asset.

The 20 per cent stake taken by Al Njoo, who has a proven track record as a successful heavy oil investor, was a solid endorsement of the company’s strategy.

The successful cash call also suggested that investors were willing to overlook (if not totally ignore) a rather public dispute with the Madagascan authorities over its tenure of Tsimiroro.

This was resolved in the company’s favour last summer, and the current political backdrop suggests it is unlikely to be a recurring theme. 

For the uninitiated, the group has the largest onshore footprint of any explorer active in Madagascar with five contiguous blocks covering almost 30,000 square kilometres.

This includes the fully owned Tsimiroro block, and the Bemolanga block, which is 60 per cent owned by the French oil giant Total, and three blocks with conventional prospects.

There are also multiple conventional oil and gas prospects on all five blocks with a cumulative gross potential of over two billion barrels - a point chief executive Laurie Hunter is keen to stress.

However, near-term, Tsimiroro is likely to be the major driver of the share price. 

As mentioned earlier, it is a heavy oil field with a 1.7 billion barrel contingent resource (according to the latest independent competent person's report) with the potential to produce 150,000 barrels of oil a day at peak production.

Back to USOP, at one point its shares, which currently trade on a Danish OTC matched bargain system, were up over 200 per cent, changing hands at 210p each.

The stock saw heavy trade all day and by late afternoon, had settled somewhat and was last trading at 150 pence. It had started the session on GXG Markets at just under 66 pence.

The well has so far been drilled to a depth of 7,474 feet (2,278 metres). Oil shows and samples indicate multiple potential hydrocarbon pay zones, the company said.

USOP currently estimates that the well has encountered oil shows over a gross section of up to 1,000 feet (304 metres). And it says that the possible net pay zones range from 100 to 300 feet (30.5 to 91 metres).

The company said that it recorded good hydrocarbon background gas with several high gas peaks. And at several intervals, analysis of recovered fluid samples indicated light oil, with evidence of sweet gas at the shaker.

Furthermore separate tests saw good light gravity oil recovered at the surface, USOP said.

Proactive also took closer look at gold miner Medusa Mining (LON:MML), which is is in a year of “transition” its chairman said as it progresses along a five year growth plan to more than quadruple its current gold output.

At a presentation to Proactive Investors, Geoffrey Davis confirmed output this year from its Co-O mine in the Philippines will be 60-65,000 ounces of gold rising to 200,000 ounces per year by 2014.

In addition to the Co-O mine, it is also developing its Bananghilig open pit deposit to start production in 2015.

Co-O is a narrow vein underground mine in the south east island of Mindanao with an exploration target size estimated to be between 3 and 7 million ounces. 

Davis said: “We are getting very close to the 3 million ounces [resources] mark and we are getting nowhere near to the end of this deposit.”

The company has been able to speed up development due to strong cash flow, and the fact that it is one of the cheapest running gold mines in the world.

A typhoon late last year set back production marginally for the year but will have no overall effect on the five year target, he said.

The miner is modernising and upgrading the existing mill site as well as adding a new leach tank, crusher foundations and detoxification plant.

At Bananghilig, Medusa is aiming initially for one million ounces of reserves with a five year mine life producing 200,000 ounces per year.

Once both mines are up and running, Davis said the company would look at its dividend payout policy and would consider a special dividend if cash began to build up.

Fairfax analyst John Meyer opened the Medusa presentation with a brief outline of what to look out for in mining companies as well as a brief analysis of Medusa.

Mayer said: “Look for companies where there is some inkling of discovery, where there is some reason to believe that the company can move in the next few years.”

Sector peer Kryso Resources (LON:KYS) today told investors that its largest shareholder is to provide the funds for the construction of the Pakrut gold mine in Tajikistan. 

China Nonferrous Metals Int’l Mining (CNMIM ) will put up US$93.5 million in loans and exercise share warrants to raise a further £15.4 million (US$24 million).

Exercising the warrants, at 21 pence, will take CNMIM’s stake to 40.7 per cent from 26 per cent currently, but as Kryso’s central place of control is now deemed to be outside of the UK, the Chinese group will not have to make an offer for the rest of the shares. 

Craig Brown, Kryso's managing director , said: “We are delighted to have secured the debt financing requirement for the Pakrut project given the current challenging debt markets.

Mine construction is already progressing well and, with debt financing now confirmed, we are on track to commence production in the second half of 2013.”

Kryso owns 100 per cent of Pakrut, which is situated approximately 12km northeast of the capital city Dushanbe.

Pakrut is located within the Tien Shan gold belt that extends from Uzbekistan into Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and western China and has an estimated total JORC compliant resources of 5 million ounces of gold.

That includes measured and indicated resources of 2.21 million ounces, with measured resources at 1.76 million ounces.

The latest JORC estimate also included an additional seven diamond drill holes at eastern Pakrut, five kilometres up the valley from Pakrut and Brown believes total resources over the whole area of the deposit at Pakrut could eventually exceed 10 million ounces. 

The mining plan submitted by Kryso envisages an initial processing capacity of 660,000 tons of ore per annum, increasing to 1,320,000 tons per annum from 2017. Work has already started on an access road and the tailings dam.

Kryso said today that the loan will be made on commercial terms in two denominations of US$ 10 million and RMB 530 million (approximately US$ 83.5 million) and is secured on Pakrut.

Gold rose this afternoon thanks to support from bargain hunters, which have been buying bullion since prices slipped below US$1,540 per ounce earlier this week.

Demand for gold has been under pressure from fears that Greece could exit the euro zone, which intensified after Germany refused to change its stance on euro zone bonds and again demanded that the debt-laden country implements further austerity measures.

Late in the week, the euro received some support from comments made by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, who said Italy was in favour of issuing common euro area bonds and that he thought Greece would likely stay in the euro zone.

In addition, the World Gold Council said gold demand from China could increase significantly this year.

Gold traded at US$1,565/oz this afternoon, up US$7 from Thursday’s close. Platinum moved in the same direction as gold, rising US$5 to US$1,419/oz, while silver declined two cents to US$28.30/oz.

Today’s top risers in the sector were:

Minera IRL (LON:MIRL), up 8 percent at 49.87 pence at midday

SolGold (LON:SOLG), up 4.5 percent at 4.7 pence

Orosur Mining (LON:OMI), up 4 percent at 41 pence

Anglo Asian Mining (LON:AAZ), up 3 percent at 34.5 pence

The top fallers were:

Centamin (LON:CEY), down 6 percent at 61.55 pence at midday

Touchstone Gold (LON:TGL), down 6 percent at 13.4 pence

Stratex International (LON:STI), down 5.5 percent at 5.78 pence

Vatukoula Gold Mines (LON:VGM), down 4.5 percent at 40 pence

Metals Exploration (LON:MTL), down 4 percent at 9.35 pence

Activation Laboratories conducted the analysis of samples taken from the 2011 drill hole WS11-188, whose initial results were announced last September.

The company said that adding rhodium (Rh), ruthenium (Ru), osmium (Os) and iridium (Ir) to Platinum (Pt) and palladium (Pd) increased the total PGE content (6E) by an average of 28 percent, based on a population of 90 samples, most of which are from disseminated sulphide-type mineralization.

"The assay results suggest that 6E PGE composite grades increase by an average of 28 percent (disseminated sulphide) to 114.8 percent (massive sulphide) over grades previously announced when only Platinum and palladium were considered," Prophecy Platinum's chairman John Lee noted.

"Today's results could potentially translate into a significant rare PGE resource addition to an already impressive Platinum and palladium resource base at Wellgreen."

Full details of the assay results are available at http://www.prophecyplat.com.

The company said 6E assay results are still pending for an additional 260 samples taken from hole WS11-188, including samples from sections that showed higher Platinum and palladium grades.

The 120 claim, 2,500-hectare flagship Wellgreen property is located in the south west of Canada's mining-friendly Yukon Territory. The site is approximately 35 kilometres northwest of the airstrip at Burwash Landing, and just 15 km from the Alaska Highway and 402 km from Alaska's Haines deep sea port.

A July 2011 technical report gave the project 289 million tonnes of inferred resource grading 0.38% nickel, 0.35% copper, 1.18 grams per tonne PGM (Platinum group metals) plus gold, and 14 million tonnes of indicated resource at 0.69% nickel, 0.62% copper, 2.25 grams per tonne PGM plus gold.

Platinum group metals have a variety of uses including catalysts in automobiles and fuel cells, jewellery as well as glass and others industrial uses.

Prophecy Platinum is focused on developing Platinum group metals and nickel sulphide projects. The company's other holdings include the Lynn Lake nickel-copper project in Manitoba, the Las Aguilas nickel-PGM deposit in Argentina, as well as five prospective claims in Uruguay.

Despite a sell-off in equity markets around the globe, oil prices were on the rise today as negotiations between Iran and six world powers over its nuclear programme failed to make any progress.

Iran refused to curb its uranium enrichment programme, which makes it highly unlikely that the sanctions imposed against the Middle Eastern country will be lifted any time soon and that more could follow.

Oil exports from Iran, currently the second largest producer of crude in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), dropped in March and April as it was hit by a series of sanctions by the US and Europe.

Gains in oil futures were curbed by a Bloomberg report, which said Chinese banks could miss their lending targets this year amid falling demand for credit, adding to concerns that growth in the world’s second largest economy is slowing at a faster pace than expected.

Only yesterday, HSBC said its China PMI index dropped to 48.7 from 49.3 in April, marking the seventh monthly contraction in a row.

Oil prices were still under pressure from this week’s inventories data from the US Department of Energy, which showed that America’s crude stocks added 900,000 barrels last week to reach 382.5 million barrels.

US light, sweet crude for July delivery, currently the most actively traded contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), rose 20 cents to US$90.86/barrel in morning trade in New York.

July Brent crude tacked on 46 cents to reach US$107.01/barrel on the ICE Exchange this afternoon.

Today’s top risers in the sector were:

Mediterranean Oil 7 Gas (LON:MOG), up 11.5 percent at 5.45 pence at midday

Amerisur Resources (LON:AMER), up 11.5 percent at 20.94 pence

Forum Energy (LON:FEP), up 11.5 percent a 145 pence

Nostra Terra Oil & Gas (LON:NTOG), up 4.5 percent at 0.55 pence

Genel Energy (LON:GENL), up 3.5 percent at 641.5 pence

The top fallers were:

Petro Matad (LON:MATD), down 18 percent at 13.26 pence at midday

Argos Resources (LON:ARG), down 5.5 percent at 15.12 pence

Regal Petroleum (LON:RPT), down 5 percent at 21 pence

In the firm’s quarterly results, for the 3 months ended March 31, said it had £78.9 million of cash at the end of the period and since then it has secured US$50 million of additional funding – through the issue of loan notes.

Approximately £74 million of the group’s cash at the end of March was held in escrow, for payments associated with the Phase 1A Bentley oil field development.

Xcite has yet to bank any production revenues from Bentley and today’s results showed a £50,000 net loss for the quarter.

Since the end of March Xcite has entered additional contracts related to the development, including a deal to secure the Scott Spirit tanker which will be used as a storage and offtake vessel for Bentley’s initial oil production. 

It also agreed a contract for a 1.8 kilometre pipeline to connect the first development well to the tanker.

The company plans tap external sources for project funding for the next stage of the development. Work is underway on Phase 1A of the project and the funds are already available for this programme.

A key highlight of the quarter was an upgrade of oil reserves in February. This saw a substantial increase in 2P reserves to 116 million barrels from 28 million barrels. And in turn this gave a net present value (NPV) US$1.46 billion.

Drilling operations are ongoing on the Bentley field. Phase 1A will comprise of two lateral wells from a motherbore - the first will facilitate a technical test. 

The second will facilitate a 90 production test and will ultimately become the field’s first production well as part of the Phase 1B programme.

UK stocks retreated today as the euro zone debt crisis again took centre stage. The FTSE 100 stood at 5,319, down 31 points (0.6 percent) from Thursday’s close.

Member of the European Central Bank (ECB) board Peter Praet warned that the European financial system needed an urgent overhaul to withstand the fiscal crisis, while also calling for a closer fiscal union between the euro zone members.

Equities received a little support from upbeat comments made by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.

He said Greece would likely stay in the euro zone and that Italy backed the idea of issuing common euro area bonds, which received strong backing at this week’s EU summit.

“Thus we have two leaders (Monti & Hollande) who have come down firmly in favour of eurobonds, but given that it is the Germans who must stump up the requisite cash the idea will only gain traction if Chancellor Merkel backs it, which still seems unlikely,” said head of research at IG Index Anthony Grench.

Equities were also hit by a Bloomberg report, which said Chinese banks could miss their loan targets this year due to a decline in demand for credit, adding to concerns that growth in the world’s second largest economy is slowing at a faster pace than expected.

Only yesterday, HSBC said its China PMI index dropped to 48.7 this month from 49.3 in April, marking the seventh monthly contraction in the manufacturing sector in a row.

Car insurer Admiral Group (LON:ADM, up 2.3pct at 1,109p) and retailer Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS, up 1.5pct at 348.2p) topped the FTSE 100 leaderboard.

Investors also bought defensive stocks United Utilities (LON:UU., up 1.2pct at 644.5p) and National Grid (LON:NG., up 0.8pct at 677.5p).

The Chinese data dampened demand for mining stocks today.

Vedanta Resources (LON:VED, down 3.5pct at 965p) was at the bottom of the FTSE 100 pile, followed by sector peers ENRC (LON:EBRC, down 2pct at 451.5p), Xstrata (LON:XTA, down 2pct at 916.7p) and Anglo American (LON:AAL, down 1.8pct at 1,990p).

Banking stocks including Barclays (LON:BARC, down 1.8pct at 181.95p) and taxpayer-owned Lloyds (LON:LLOY, down 2.8pct at 26.16p) and RBS (LON:RBS, down 1.8pct at 21.05p) also were among the heaviest fallers in the top flight.

US markets

Equities on Wall Street were off to a lower start today.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) declined 28 points (0.2 percent) to 12,502 and the broader S&P 500 index declined 1.5 points (0.15 percent) to 1,319.

Today’s macroeconomic calendar in the US includes the final reading of the University of Michigan consumer confidence index for May.

Analysts polled by Bloomberg expected the gauge to rise to 77.8 from 76.4 in April.

UK corporate news

Back in the UK, other news in the FTSE 100 included an acquisition by Financial Times publisher Pearson (LON:PSON, flat at 1,138p).

The group has bought GlobalEnglish, which provides cloud-based, on-demand Business English learning, assessment and performance support software, for US$90 million.

GlobalEnglish currently has more than 450 corporate customers, including 20 percent of the Forbes Global 2000 companies, including General Electric, HSBC, Tata Consultancy Services and Unilever.

“The rise of English as a global language of business continues,” said chief executive of Pearson John Fallon.

“This acquisition enables Pearson to play a much more systematic role in meeting the need of major companies around the world for quality, effective, scalable and relevant English language learning.”

In the FTSE 250, construction group Interserve (LON:IRV, up 1.6pct at 282p) updated investors about contract wins, including one at the new Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool.

The firm announced the financial close of a £150 million PFI deal with West Yorkshire police.

It also revealed a new contract for the new Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool to provide facilities management worth £50 million.

In West Yorkshire, the deal is to design, build, finance and operate two new divisional headquarters along with custody suites, and a specialist operational training facility.

Fellow midcap Cape (LON:CIU, down 37.5pct at 202p) lost more than a third of its value in early trade after announcing that it will take a £14 million charge relating to the GL3-Z LNG project in Arzew in Algeria.

As a result, the group’s full year profit will miss expectations.

The contract, which was awarded to Cape in 2010, is for the provision of insulation works for the Sonatrach GL3-Z LNG Project.

Cape has previously said that the timing on the Arzew project had been slower than expected and revenues in 2011 were at less than a third of planned levels.

A further review in May identified additional costs, which are expected to produce a significant loss.

A former senior executive at Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) has been charged with fraud to the tune of £2.5 million.

Jessica Harper is accused of submitting false invoices amounting to £2.46 million during her time as head of fraud and security for digital banking at the state-controlled bank.

The 50 year-old will appear before judges at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, charged with one count of fraud by abuse of position between 2008 and 2011.

Andrew Penhale from the Crown Prosecution Service’s Central Fraud Group said he had authorised Scotland Yard to prosecute her.

He said: “The charge relates to an allegation that between 1 September 2008 and 21 December 2011 Jessica Harper dishonestly and with the intention of making a gain for herself abused her position as an employee of Lloyds Banking Group, in which she was expected to safeguard the financial interests of Lloyds Banking Group, by submitting false invoices to claim payments totalling £2,463,750.88, to which she was not entitled.

“This decision to prosecute was taken in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.

“We have determined that there is a realistic prospect of conviction and a prosecution is in the public interest.”

A Scotland Yard spokesperson confirmed Harper was arrested on December 21 by officers from the fraud squad.

The news represents another embarrassing blot on the 41 per cent state-owned bank’s record following the recent payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling scandal.

Lloyds refused to comment on the decision against Harper.

UK stocks retreated today as the euro zone debt crisis again took centre stage. The FTSE 100 stood at 5,319, down 31 points (0.6 percent) from Thursday’s close.

Member of the European Central Bank (ECB) board Peter Praet warned that the European financial system needed an urgent overhaul to withstand the fiscal crisis, while also calling for a closer fiscal union between the euro zone members.

Equities received a little support from upbeat comments made by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.

He said Greece would likely stay in the euro zone and that Italy backed the idea of issuing common euro area bonds, which received strong backing at this week’s EU summit.

“Thus we have two leaders (Monti & Hollande) who have come down firmly in favour of eurobonds, but given that it is the Germans who must stump up the requisite cash the idea will only gain traction if Chancellor Merkel backs it, which still seems unlikely,” said head of research at IG Index Anthony Grench.

Equities were also hit by a Bloomberg report, which said Chinese banks could miss their loan targets this year due to a decline in demand for credit, adding to concerns that growth in the world’s second largest economy is slowing at a faster pace than expected.

Only yesterday, HSBC said its China PMI index dropped to 48.7 this month from 49.3 in April, marking the seventh monthly contraction in the manufacturing sector in a row.

Car insurer Admiral Group (LON:ADM, up 2.3pct at 1,109p) and retailer Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS, up 1.5pct at 348.2p) topped the FTSE 100 leaderboard.

Investors also bought defensive stocks United Utilities (LON:UU., up 1.2pct at 644.5p) and National Grid (LON:NG., up 0.8pct at 677.5p).

The Chinese data dampened demand for mining stocks today.

Vedanta Resources (LON:VED, down 3.5pct at 965p) was at the bottom of the FTSE 100 pile, followed by sector peers ENRC (LON:EBRC, down 2pct at 451.5p), Xstrata (LON:XTA, down 2pct at 916.7p) and Anglo American (LON:AAL, down 1.8pct at 1,990p).

Banking stocks including Barclays (LON:BARC, down 1.8pct at 181.95p) and taxpayer-owned Lloyds (LON:LLOY, down 2.8pct at 26.16p) and RBS (LON:RBS, down 1.8pct at 21.05p) also were among the heaviest fallers in the top flight.

US Oil and Gas (GXG:USOP) stole the spotlight today after announcing that its Eblana-1 exploration well in Nevada has encountered what it believes to be live light oil, seeing its share price more than treble to 210 pence per share.

The report from US Oil & Gas was among the most read RNS announcements in London, while fellow US operating group Magnolia Petroleum (LON:MAGP) also garnered attention, showing up on the list of the most popular searches on Google Finance thanks to the recent share price rise.

Since Monday, Magnolia has gained over 40 percent to reach 1.95 pence per share this morning, valuing the group at £13 million, with demand for its shares driven by anticipation of a strong news flow over the next few weeks.

The company, which currently has participations in 74 producing wells, hopes to announce average production rates sometime in the current quarter.

Three of these wells are currently drilling or awaiting completion and seven wells are waiting to spud.

Earlier this week, Magnolia said it was reviewing a number of well proposals which could lead to the group achieving its target of 100 producing wells by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, US Oil & Gas jumped over 200 percent after reporting that shows and samples from Eblana-1 indicated multiple potential hydrocarbon pay zones.

According to the company’s estimates, the well has encountered oil shows over a gross section of up to 1,000 feet and the possible net pay zones range from 100 to 300 feet, while good hydrocarbon background gas with several high gas peaks has also been recorded.

“We are highly encouraged by the results of our drill thus far and look forward keenly to the next stages in our exploration process, said chief executive of US Oil and Gas Brian McDonnell.

While the two oil and gas groups rose this morning,  FTSE 250 energy services group Cape (LON:CIU) lost more than a third of its value in early trade after announcing that it will take a £14 million charge relating to the GL3-Z LNG project in Arzew in Algeria.

Shares in the firm plummeted 36 percent to 207.9 pence.

The contract, which was awarded to Cape in 2010, is for the provision of insulation works for the Sonatrach GL3-Z LNG project.

A review in May has identified costs, which are expected to produce a significant loss and, as a result, the group’s full year profit will be below guidance.

An update from fellow FTSE 250 constituent, construction group Interserve (LON:IRV) also was among the most popular statements of the day.

Interserve announced that it will provide facilities management services worth £50 million in the new Alder Hey children's hospital to be created in Liverpool.

Its consortium with John Laing and Laing O'Rourke has been named preferred bidder for the PFI contract and Interserve will provide 20 percent of the total investment in the project.

The group has also reached the financial close on of a £150 million PFI deal with West Yorkshire police.

The deal is to design, build, finance and operate two new divisional headquarters along with custody suites, and a specialist operational training facility.

Its signing comes less than two months after the Interserve-led consortium was appointed preferred bidder.

In the mining sector, small cap precious metals focused groups Orsu Metals (LON:OSU) and Premier Gold (LON:PRG) were among the most followed stocks.

Orsu has restarted field exploration work at its Talas gold project in Kyrgyzstan, having kicked off a 6,000 metre drill programme for the Taldybulak deposit.

The drilling campaign will test priority targets at deeper extensions and in the immediate vicinity of the deposit and provide infill data for the existing resource model.

The drilling programme is expected to be completed during the 2012 summer season ahead of any decision on a potential pre-feasibility study.

“The recommencement of exploration work and the drilling programme at the Taldybulak deposit are important steps designed to further improve the metal grade of the deposit as well as to test additional exploration targets,” said director of exploration at Orsu Alexander Yakubchuk.

Shares in Orsu climbed five percent to 7.88 pence in the afternoon, while Premier Gold also did well, rising 5.5 percent to 0.46 pence as it released its 2011 results.

During the year, Premier was firmly focused on developing the Cholokkaindy gold project in Kyrgyzstan, where it identified four significant prospects.

On the financial front, the company, which currently has no revenues, posted a pre-tax loss of £892,651, while its cash balance at the end of the year stood at £919,427.

Earlier this month, Premier Gold raised an additional £350,000 to fund the exploration programme at Cholokkaind, which moves into its second full exploration season this month.

The 2012 work programme there will include continued trenching at the Talbaital and Jarkonush prospects, to further constrain mineralisation.

The group told investors that while the focus remains on Cholokkaindy, it is currently investigating a number of other licences in the Tien Shan gold belt.

“I believe the combined strengths of local geological expertise, in-country relationships, the diverse skill set of the board and our timing positions Premier Gold uniquely well to take advantage of this significant opportunity in a country which is under-explored but capable of becoming one of the world's leading gold producers,” said chairman of Premier Gold Gerry Desler.

In the meantime, drug discovery company Summit Corporation (LON:SUMM) has dosed the first cohort of patients in a Phase 1 study of SMT C1100 for the treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a rare fatal genetic disease.

The drug is designed to upregulate and maintain the production of utrophin, a protein that is highly expressed in regenerating muscle, but decreases as the muscle fibre matures. Utrophin is eventually replaced by dystrophin, a protein that maintains the integrity and healthy function of muscles.

Those affected by DMD are unable to generate dystrophin, whose functions, however, can be replaced by utrophin.

SMT C1100 has been extensively evaluated and has shown ability to restore and maintain the function of muscles.

A successful outcome from this trial, which will be supported by US$1.5 million funding from a group of US-based DMD organisation, is expected to lead to a Phase 2 trial of SMT C1100 in DMD patients.

The aim is to "clearly distinguish the company from existing and potential competitors in the iron ore, vanadium and titanium space", Apella said in a statement.

PacificOre Mining Corp and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Prestige Mining Corporation and Power Vanadium Corporation, expect to leverage their own brand "through more clarity of value recognition in the iron ore, vanadium and titanium space with respect to their Lac Dore and Iron-T iron-vanadium-titanium assets."

Earlier this year, Apella decided on a strategy of placing three of its vanadium-iron-titanium assets - the Lac Dore/Lac Dore North project, the Iron-T project and the Game Changer project - into wholly-owned subsidiaries dedicated primarily to that particular asset.

As funds are raised to develop the projects, since they are held within subsidiaries, share dilution to the company as a whole is avoided.

In April, the company announced that exploration work at its Lac Dore iron-titanium and vanadium property is progressing right on schedule.

The Lac Dore project consists of 42 contiguous mineral claims covering an area of 1.6 million acres located in the Rinfret and Lemoine townships, 70 kilometres south-east of the town of Chibougamau, Quebec.

In early March, Apella began the first phase of exploration work on Lac Dore to re-establish and extend the previous grid, establish a minimum of three permanent benchmarks that will be used for future infrastructure and mine construction, and survey the previous historic drill holes, trenches and stripping utilized in the earlier, pre-NI 43-101, feasibility study.

The Apella geological and prospecting team assisted the surveyor in the field and searched for the historic diamond drill hole locations, which it wants to twin in efforts to qualify the previous non-compliant NI 43-101 resources.

It is anticipated that the first phase or two of diamond drilling, upon completion, would bring the Lac Dore Project to pre-feasibility study level.

Also Thursday, the company and its unit Prestige Mining Corp announced the results of the pre-drill field program on the Lac Dore project, which started in March with the opening of access roads leading to the property, and giving access to the previous work and old drill sites.

Once the company had  access, consulting firm Les Consultants Aurus, together with Apella's own geological team, began to survey the old McKenzie Bay base line and the different stripped areas in order to search for previous drill sites to record their locations with current GPS technology.

Apella said its consultants noted several discrepancies in the surveying of the McKenzie Bay's historic base line, which have now been corrected. The consultants, as planned, established three permanent bench marks, which are expected, as the project progress, to provide reference values for latitude, longitude, height and gravity.

All the surveying work was completed at the end of April. The company said the old McKenzie Bay grid has now, either been re-established or refreshed.

Many transversal lines on the eastern part have now been extended to the northwest and southeast, with a total of 42 kilometres of lines cut, picketed and surveyed with a GPS.

The grid will be used for a new magnetic survey - anticipated to start soon - the company said, and for other field work.
 
Since the beginning of the month, the field geological team has been channel sampling several previous McKenzie Bay stripping areas to confirm previous intersections of mineralization and their grades.

The company said it had been reported that historic drill-hole 2001-05 returned two mineralized intersections of 1.13 percent vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), 9.54 percent titanium dioxide (TiO2) and 25.11 percent oxides over 6.70 metres as well as 1.21 percent V2O5, 9.81 percent TiO2 and 35.93 percent oxides over 29.35 metres.

This new channel sampling, which is still ongoing, can be considered as a horizontal twin hole, Apella said.

Shares in Summit Corporation (LON:SUMM) advanced 5 per cent today as it revealed it had started a phase 1 trial on its potentially breakthrough treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

The drug discovery company said it had dosed the first cohort of patients with the SMT C1100 drug.

The successful outcome is expected to lead to a phase 2 trial of the drug.

Chief executive Glyn Edwards said: "There is currently no known cure for DMD, and the only treatments available mask the symptoms of the disease."

He said the compound had the potential to modify the underlying disease, and the beginning of the phase 1 trial represented a great step forward.

"We expect to report top-line data from the full trial before the end of this year," he said.

In simple terms, the treatment involves the maintaining or replacement of a protein, which it is hoped will return muscle function for DMD patients.

SMT C1100 has been extensively evaluated in non-clinical studies and shown its ability to restore and maintain the function of muscles, said the company .

It added that this trial would evaluate if Summit's aqueous formulation of the drug can provide the consistent levels of drug in blood " that non-clinical efficacy studies predicted would be required to confer therapeutic benefit in DMD patients, while also assessing its safety and tolerability".

As at 12.47 pm, the shares were up 5 per cent, to change hands at 2.63 pence each.

Regenerative tissue specialist Tissue Regenix (LON:TRX) has agreed a major expansion of its development partnership with the NHS’s blood and transplant unit.

The company, which has pioneered a technology that can swap worn out or damaged body parts with replacements taken from a human donor or animal, already has a chronic wound trial under way with NHSBT under its original deal.

That trial hit the headlines recently when a 92-year old grandmother was successfully treated for leg ulcers at University Hospital South Manchester using Tissue Regenix’s dCell process and skin taken from dead donors.

Tissue’s original deal gave NHSBT the right to carry out pre-clinical and clinical evaluations.

The extended agreement means Tissue can now can fast-track clinical evaluation of new applications, such as for treating burns or plastic surgery, of dCell with NHSBT. It will also now include cardiovascular applications.

Ultimately the expansion will mean the technology could reach patients much faster due to the close links the NHS has with clinical advisors.

Antony Odell, Tissue Regenix’s managing director said: “The extension significantly expands our ability to collate information faster. We have been working at a partnership level but this depeens it substantially.”

Tissue is currently developing replacement cartilages, ligaments, heart valves, and skin and vascular patches using dCell technology and the expansion will also enable cardiology applications to be applied by NHSBT.

The company said NHSBT will also become a global Centre of Excellence for dCell.

Odell said: "NHSBT has unparalleled relationships with the NHS clinical community and world-class development facilities and these will enable us to jointly address a range of significant clinical needs in a cost and time efficient manner".

Helen Gillan, NHSBT’s head of Tissue Services, added "We welcome the expansion of our partnership with Tissue Regenix.

“Currently, we have a clinical trial underway using decellularised human donor skin grafts in the treatment of chronic, non-healing wounds. Although it is a relatively new trial, it is already showing great promise," she added.

On the back of the news the share price is up 3.4 per cent to 12.93 pence.

Online gaming group GVC Holdings (LON:GVC) said it was extremely pleased with its performance after seeing its turnover jump 168 percent to €279,000 per day in the year to May 20.

Revenues at the B2C division rose to €105,000 per day from €98,400 in the same period last 2011, while turnover at the B2B unit reached €174,100 per day, up from €5,800 a year earlier.

The B2B division got a boost from am service contract with East Pioneer Corporation B.V., which was signed in November last year.

“We are extremely pleased with the performance in both divisions,” said chief executive of GVC.

“B2C sports margins, have been adversely affected by favourable punter outcomes this year, which has suppressed an otherwise excellent start to the year.”

GVC is “cautiously optimistic” about the rest of the year, noting that economic conditions in Europe remain challenging.

The group has decided to raise its dividend to €11 from €10 per share a year earlier on teh back of the positive financial performance.

Investors welcomed the update, sending shares in the company up 6.5 percent to 161 pence by 11:25 am, giving it a market cap of £50.85 million.

IDOX (LON:IDOX) has secured a contract to supply its McLaren Enterprise application software suite and related services to CH2M Hill for US$405,000 in the first year of the deal.

Investors liked the news, sending shares in IDOX up 3.5 percent to 33.75 pence by 10:55 am, valuing the group at £116.7 million.

The suite will initially be deployed within the Energy & Chemical Division to support the vendor document management requirements of one of CH2M's clients.

The McLaren Vendor Document Management module manages the receipt, distribution, review and approval of incoming documentation from suppliers and contractors involved in a major capital project.

“This a another significant win for IDOX's subsidiary McLaren and a demonstration of the strength of our offering for customers involved in managing major capital projects,” said chief executive of IDOX Richard Kellett-Clarke.

“Safety, efficiency and compliance are all underpinned by McLaren Solutions and we look forward to working with CH2M to support their wider business operations in the future.”

The firm announced the financial close of a £150 million PFI deal with West Yorkshire police.

It also revealed a new contract for the new Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool to provide facilities management worth £50 million.

In West Yorkshire, the deal is to design, build, finance and operate two new divisional headquarters along with custody suites, and a specialist operational training facility.

Its signing comes less than two months after the Interserve-led consortium was appointed preferred bidder.

At Alder Hey, the new hospital will be built next door to the current site. Once the building is constructed the existing Alder Hey will be demolished and turned into a replacement park, the firm said.

Interserve's consortium with John Laing and Laing O'Rourke has been named preferred bidder for the PFI contract by Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust.

The company will provide 20 per cent of the consortium's investment into the project.

The project is expected to achieve financial close in the winter this year and the official opening of the new hospital is planned for summer 2015.

As at 11am, Interserve shares were up 2.05 per cent, to change hands at 283.3 pence.

Caspian Holdings (LON:CSH) has beefed up its asset portfolio by acquiring Australian Iron Ore (AIO), which owns two tungsten projects and one gold property in Portugal, for €1 million.

The group also said that since it no longer operates in the Caspian region, it is changing its name to W Resources.

The consideration for the acquisition of AIO, which is controlled by Caspian's chairman Michael Masterman, will be paid in shares at a price of 0.3 pence per share.

AIO’s subsidiary has the rights to the Régua tungsten permit, which currently has a JORC standard compliant resource of 3.4 million tonnes grading 0.37 percent tungsten.

In addition, the company also holds the Tarouca exploration licence that hosts the former Tarouca tungsten mine and several other tungsten and possibly tin deposits and the Portalegre gold exploration licence.

Exploration drilling at Portalegre is currently underway and around 1,000 metres has been drilled during the current year.

The group also owns the La Parrilla tailings deposit targeting first production in 2013 and an option to acquire 100 percent of the La Parrilla mine currently undergoing extension drilling.

Caspian said the acquisition will expand its focus on tungsten, while “adding an option for gold exploration at a time of high gold prices and European financial uncertainty”.

ECR Minerals (LON:ECR, OTC:MTGDY) said today gold is going to be its key focus as it unveiled a three point strategy for its future.

Patrick Harford, the company’s managing director, said: “ECR’s corporate strategy offers shareholders exposure to a range of mineral projects with an operational focus on gold.” 

The focus will be the El Abra gold prospect in the Sierra de las Minas gold project in La Rioja Province, Argentina.

There, the aim is to bring a high grade, smaller tonnage deposit into production by late 2012/early 2013, ECR said. 

“However, consideration of alternative means of funding continued exploration and development, such as a joint venture or outright sale, may become appropriate as the project proceeds,” it added.

The second part of the plan is to realise the value from its stakes in THEMAC Resources (TSX-V:MAC), West Wits Mining (ASX:WWI) and the unquoted Paniai Gold.

ECR owns 100 per cent of Sierra de las Minas gold project in La Rioja Province, Argentina; a 21 per cent fully diluted stake in THEMAC Resources and stakes in West Wits Mining and Paniai Gold, both of which have interests in the Derewo River alluvial gold mining and exploration project in Papua, Indonesia.

The third leg of the strategic plan is the divestment of ECR’s 70 per cent interest in the ACS Asia metal products business.

Preparations for the disposal of this interest are being made, however the completion of any disposal is likely to take several months, said ECR.

ECR added it believes “the optimum outcome for shareholders will be derived from the combination of these three strategic elements.” 

ECR also said today it had appointed industry veteran Dick Watts, 67, as a non-executive director.

He has held a variety of senior operational roles on gold, copper and coal mines in Africa (South Africa and Zambia), Russia and Central Asia (Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan).

Patrick Harford added that Dick Watts brings to the company a new level of hands-on experience in mining and mine development, which will be of great advantage in the development of our Argentine gold project and in the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of our investment positions

Mediterranean Oil & Gas's (LON:MOG) 2011 results show the firm has "turned the corner", said broker Panmure Gordon today.

With positive cash flows of  €1.05 million, a stronger balance sheet and an upward revision in the group’s onshore reserves, it can now concentrate on unlocking value from its exploration permits and producing concessions, said analyst Leila Reddy.

It can also seek a farm-out partner for its Area 4 offshore Malta licence, which is the near term transformational catalyst for the firm, she added.

For the year to December 31,  the firm's revenues from gas and condensate sales stood at €5.65 million, compared to €3.49 mln in 2010.

Pre-tax profit came in at €2.8 million, compared to a loss of €7.8 mln in 2010.

Post period highlights included the increase of 2P reserves at the Guendalina gas field by 42 per cent to 31.2 billion cubic feet, with 6.2 billion cubic feet net to the company, and a gas purchase agreement for Guendalina with Repower Italia SpA.

In April, the company completed processing of 3D seismic data, Malta offshore Area 4.

Here, nine prospects with a total of 1,500 million barrels of prospective oil resources have been identified, and after interpretation of the data and a CPR, expected in the third quarter this year, Panmure expects the company to accelerate "monetisation initiatives" on the licence.

Reddy said of the firm's prospects: "Our forecasts indicate that this turnaround effort will be maintained in 2012 with an accompanying step change in profitability."

She retained her 'hold' recommendation and 6.3 pence price target on the stock.

"We believe that once the road map enabling the execution of the outlined growth strategies commences the share will re-rate from current levels. A successful farm out regarding the Maltese licence along with a funded exploration programme that de-risks the licence will be transformational for MOG.

This morning, shares in the company were up 5.13 per cent in early deals, to stand at 5.13 pence each.

IT firm incadea (LON:INCA), which provides software to car dealerships, debuted on the AIM market this morning following a €17 million IPO.

Based on the placing price of 75 pence per share, the Munich-based company has a market cap of €47 million.

According to incadea, the placing proceeds will be used to fund its expansion into new geographic markets as well as allow it to reduce debt and acquire new business.

Incadea currently has operational subsidiaries and branches across Europe and Asia and plans further expansion into Brazil and other emerging markets.

“We have a strong business model and we are delighted with the support we have received from investors through the IPO process,” said chief executive of incadea Werner Leinauer.

“We are now well positioned to implement our strategyand look forward to building value for our new shareholders.”

For 2011, incadea reported earnings of €3.1 million on revenues of €19.6 million.

The group’s products include dealer management, business intelligence and customer and vehicle relationship management systems.

Incadea, which has more than 49,000 individual licence holders across more than 1,900 dealerships, said it has “strong relationships” with BMW and Volkswagen.

The departure of Mike Lynch, the founder of UK technology firm Autonomy, is causing anger among those close to him and the company, it was reported this morning.

Autonomy was acquired by computer and printer maker Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) in August last year for £6.6 billion in the largest acquisition of a European IT company.

Friends of Lynch are reportedly outraged that the technology entrepreneur is leaving and suggest that HP had not given Autonomy enough support after its takeover, leading to its drop in revenue.

Preceding Lynch’s departure, it has been estimated by former employees that up to 25 per cent of Autonomy’s staff had left the firm after the HP takeover.

In HP’s second quarter update yesterday it said Lynch, one of Britain's most successful technology entrepreneurs, would be leaving after Autonomy had not met its expectations.

He is being replaced by Bill Veghte, HP’s chief strategy officer and a former Microsoft executive.

US firm HP, also said it would be making 27,000 job cuts by 2014 as part of restructuring plans. It said the job cuts would be made mainly through early retirement and would generate annual savings of US$3 billion to US$3.5 billion.

Autonomy, which specialises in pattern recognition and software that can search data such as voicemails, was formed by Lynch on the back of work done during his PhD at Cambridge University.

The job cuts, accounting for roughly eight per cent of HP’s workforce were announced as the company reported a third quarter outlook below forecasts.

HP reported net income of US$1.59 billion compared with US$2.3 billion, a year earlier. 

Revenue of US$30.7 billion was down 3 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Cape (LON:CIU) lost more than a third of its value in early trade after announcing that it will take a £14 million charge relating to the GL3-Z LNG project in Arzew in Algeria.

As a result, the group’s full year profit will miss expectations.

Investors ran for the hills this morning with shares in Cape plummeting 36 percent to 207.9 pence by 9:20 am.

The contract, which was awarded to Cape in 2010, is for the provision of insulation works for the Sonatrach GL3-Z LNG Project.

Cape has previously said that the timing on the Arzew project had been slower than expected and revenues in 2011 were at less than a third of planned levels.

A further review in May identified additional costs, which are expected to produce a significant loss.

The group told investors that it will try to curb the potential losses on Arzew by appointing a new project team and hiring additional skilled personnel.

Following the announcement, broker Numis reduced its earnings per share forecasts for Cape for the current year to 36.3 pence from 46 pence, while leaving its 2013 forecast of 51.8 pence per share unchanged.

As reported earlier this month, operations were suspended at the well after failings in the drilling process.

The pipe had parted three times while attempts to pull it out of the well were made, and the firm is still analysing the reasons why, it said.

Equipment and personnel have been demobilised from the site, reducing costs while results from reviews are obtained, the firm added.

Oilex and its JV partner, Gujarat  State Petroleum Corporation Ltd are now working on the next phases of work on Cambay field.

"The first stage of work will comprise a well to be drilled from the Cambay-76H pad with the intention of re-entering and maximising the value of the large stimulated rock volume around the 610 metre well bore at Cambay-76H. 

The detailed design and precise location of the well will be finalised once engineering feasibility studies have been completed over the coming weeks, it said.

"Following demonstration of hydrocarbon flow from this well, the intention is to proceed with a three well work programme. 

"This subsequent phase is designed to acquire cores, modern wireline logs, reservoir fluid information and production test data that would assist the independent certifier to move contingent resources to reserves, generate sales of oil and gas for local markets as well as evaluating the significant potential of the deeper, tight reservoirs at Cambay Field," said the firm.

Petro Matad (LON:MATD) outlined exploration plans for its assets in Mongolia for the rest of the year and 2013, hoping to refine their “enormous potential”.

The company told investors today that a review of the extensive 2011 field season in Mongolia recommended that the company refines the work to date to generate drill and seismic targets.

Based on the review, the company has decided to suspend drilling and testing for the remainder of 2012, while the suggested studies and changes are conducted.

This work is now ongoing including re-processing of some seismic data and an update of the seismic interpretation.

“Whilst the 2011 programme at Davsan Tolgoi was a major disappointment for the company, the results have contributed significantly to our understanding of the assets,” said chief executive of Petro Matad Douglas McGay.

 “We have un-matched holdings of both prospectivity and size, all of which still offer enormous potential.

“The further exploration studies we have now planned and commenced will refine some of that potential and lead us to the next stages of our exploration.”

The company said it aims to define a “balanced and lower risk drilling programme”.

“The market will be informed once these studies have been completed and further exploration decisions are made by the board,” said Petro Matad.

The company will undertake further technical studies on all three of its blocks in Mongolia over the next four months, focusing on blocks XX and V to identify drill targets and areas for future seismic surveys.

No further drilling or testing will be conducted on Block XX this year and Petro’s exploration focus will be on the development of drilling and seismic programmes for all properties next year.

Future drilling on Block XX is likely to be in areas to the west and east of the Davsan Tolgoi Anticline.

At Block V, the company identified good source rock and reservoir potential from core samples obtained from the 2011 stratigraphic well, while 2D data acquired last year showed several prospective leads.

Further technical work is required to identify an area for the 2012/2013 winter seismic acquisition campaign with first drilling targeted for 2013.

Meanwhile, seismic data from the oil shale Block IV has identified several large structures and increased its prospectivity. Petro Matad said it will continue technical work to “enhance understanding of the block”.

The company said two shallow core holes were drilled on the KUB oil shale occurrence in the south of the block, confirming that thick sections of oil shale occur over a large aerial extent.

Assay results from those core holes have indicated the high and potentially commercial values of organic content and yieldable hydrocarbons.

Preliminary studies carried out suggest the oil shale could be suitable for both in-situ and ex-situ processing, said Petro Matad, adding that it will undertake additional drilling to refine the extent and quality of the oil shale occurrence. 

Regenerative tissue specialist Tissue Regenix (LON:TRX) has agreed a major expansion of its development partnership with the NHS’s blood and transplant unit, NHSBT.

The company, which has pioneered a technology that can swap worn out or damaged body parts with replacements taken from a human donor or animal, already has a chronic wound trial under way with NHSBT under its original deal.

That trial hit the headlines recently when a 92 -year old grandmother was successfully treated for leg ulcers at University Hospital South Manchester using Tissue Regenix’s dCell process and skin taken from dead donors.

Tissue’s original deal gave NHSBT have the right to carry out pre-clinical and clinical evaluations.

The extended agreement means Tissue can now can fast-track clinical evaluation of new applications of dCell with NHSBT.

It is currently developing replacement cartilages, ligaments, heart valves, and skin and vascular patches using dCell technology

The company said NHSBT will also become a global Centre of Excellence for dCell.

Antony Odell, Tissue Regenix’s managing director, said: "NHSBT has unparalleled relationships with the NHS clinical community and world-class development facilities and these will enable us to jointly address a range of significant clinical needs in a cost and time efficient manner".

Helen Gillan, NHSBT’s head of Tissue Services, added "We welcome the expansion of our partnership with Tissue Regenix.

“Currently, we have a clinical trial underway using decellularised human donor skin grafts in the treatment of chronic, non-healing wounds. Although it is a relatively new trial, it is already showing great promise," she added.

And after the recent share price fall, the broker reckons the stock should appeal to investors.

Its target price of 540 pence, trimmed by 10 pence today, still offers significant upside value despite struggling to move on from the Macondo oil spill in 2010.

“Investors have been frustrated by lack of newsflow on Macondo and the absence of visible earnings recovery, but we believe both elements are now finally within reach,” Credit Suisse said.

The broker added the company is not getting enough credit from the market for its stronger cashflow growth from recovery in high-margin regions such as the Gulf of Mexico.

The broker estimates BP’s volume growth will be “sluggish” in the next two to three years at less than one per cent a year.

However, it believes after two years of transition, positive momentum should see a comeback in the second half of this year.

The broker also thinks BP has the portfolio depth, especially in deepwater, to support production growth of 2.5 – 3 per cent per year until 2020, but is not ruling out buying assets to plug gaps in its portfolio, such as in liquefied natural gas (LNG).

As a result, it sees capital expenditure rising US$4 billion by 2015 to fund this growth but insists the spending won’t affect shareholder returns.

It also sees BP’s slowing of its asset disposal plan as “positive” as it doesn’t expect a re-rating from selling its assets.

Shares were trading at 408 pence this morning, up 1 pence from the close of play yesterday.

The update, though not NI43-101 compliant, means the firm is confident its Mexican operations will continue producing gold and silver in the medium term.

And based on the current production levels at the mine, means the resource could supply the firm's SDA Mill for at least the next 17 months.

VANE also today released, separately, an update on copper exploration in south western USA.

The Colorada resource is open at depth and consists of 16,507 tonnes at grades of 6.0g/t gold and 116g/t silver in the indicated category. 

Inferred resources stand at 26,953 tonnes with grades of 5.3g/t gold and 144g/t silver.

Chief executive David Newton said the estimate provided management with confidence that its Mexican operations will continue to produce gold and silver in the medium term and provide the company with revenue towards the pursuit of its exploration projects in Arizona and New Mexico.

Separately, the company said drilling at the Peg Leg property in the US had not been successful in finding another porphyry copper system.

The company has stopped work on this target and moved on to its next - Railroad - where rotary drilling has now begun.

At McGhee Peak, a diamond drill rig has been secured and the permitting process with the New Mexico authorities is expected to be completed soon. The firm expects the planned diamond drilling programme will begin towards the end of June or early July.

Newton said: "Although it is clearly disappointing that the drilling at Peg Leg has not proven successful in identifying another mineralised porphyry system, our overall programme is proving successful in concentrating our efforts, inexpensively, on our portfolio of copper prospects."

This morning, Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) updated investors on its closely followed exploration campaign in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, announcing the spudding of the the Sheikh Adi-2 exploration well on the Sheikh Adi block.

Based on the results of the Sheikh Adi-1 exploration well, consultancy Dynamic Global Advisors has assigned gross oil-in-place resources of one billion to three billion barrels to the western part of the Sheikh Adi field.

“Sheikh Adi-2 is a significant addition to our extremely active 2012/2013 drilling programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq,” said chief operating officer of Gulf Keystone John Gerstenlauer.

“The location for this well has been carefully selected and we believe that with Sheikh Adi-2 we are targeting a section of the reservoir which is potentially more naturally fractured and much more similar to the Shaikan discovery.

“In the future, this well will benefit from its proximity to the available infrastructure on the adjacent Shaikan block.”

The company operates the Sheikh Adi block with an 80 percent interest.

Other news in the sector included an operational update from Petro Matad (LON:MATD) and full year results from Mediterranean Oil & Gas (LON:MOG) and Lansdowne Oil & Gas (LON:LOGP).

Petro Matad told investors that its Block XX in Mongolia still demonstrates “significant promise” and it expects to generate strong drill targets over the next four months.

The company added that its other holdings in central Mongolia have been explored and Block V in particular is revealing conclusive indications of a hydrocarbon system. It plans further technical work at the block to identify an area for the 2012/2013 winter seismic acquisition with first drilling targeted for 2013.

“The further exploration studies we have now planned and commenced will refine some of that potential and lead us to the next stages of our exploration,” said chief executive of Petro Matad Douglas McGay.

Meanwhile, Lansdowne Oil & Gas called 2011 a year of “great progress” and said it is now looking forward to the completion of the full technical appreciation of the results of the Barryroe appraisal well, which will lead to a resource update later in the year.

In addition, Lansdowne aims to secure farm-in partners for drilling its other exploration and appraisal prospects.

On the financial front, the company7 had £3.2 million in the back at the end of 2011 and that losses fell to £780,000 from £1.1 million in 2010. Following a £5 million fundraising in March, the company had cash balance of £4.7 million.

These new funds were used primarily to acquire 3D seismic data over existing discoveries and prospects in the Celtic Sea.

The full year report from MOG showed that gas production reached 17.6 million cubic metres in 2011, while revenues from gas and condensate sales reached €5.65 million, resulting in a pre-tax profit of €2.8 million.

The company expects sales from the Guendalina field in Italy to significantly increase its revenues and cash flow, adding that it will continue to “extract value from other operating assets and de-risk prospective and contingent resources”.

In the mining sector, Kryso Resources (LON:KYS) said its largest shareholder China Nonferrous Metals Int’l Mining has agreed to provide a loan facility, which completes the planned debt financing requirement for its principal gold project in the Republic of Tajikistan.

The US$83.5 million facility will be used to finance the design, construction, operation and administration of the Pakrut gold mine.

Fellow precious metals miner ECR Minerals (LON:ECR) has appointed Richard Andrew Watts to the board as a non-executive director.

Watts is currently a Principal Mining Consultant for Turgis Consulting and was formerly also a Principal Mining Consultant for SRK UK and he has also held a variety of senior operational roles on gold, copper and coal mines in Africa, Russia and Central Asia.

“ECR’s corporate strategy offers shareholders exposure to a range of mineral projects with an operational focus on gold,” said managing director of ECR Patrick Harford.

“In this context the appointment of Dick Watts to our board brings to the company a new level of hands-on experience in mining and mine development, which will be of great advantage in the development of our Argentine gold project and in the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of our investment positions.”

Sector peer VANE Minerals (LON:VML) has completed an internal resource estimate at the La Colorada mine in Mexico, which gives it a total resource of 43,460 tonnes grading 5.6 grammes per tonne (g/t) gold and 133 g/t silver.

The indicated resource stands at 16,507 tonnes at grades of 6 g/t gold and 116 g/t silver.

The company noted that the resource is open at depth.

“Whilst this resource estimate was undertaken as an internal project and does not meet the strict requirements of NI 43-101 compliance, it does provide management with confidence that our Mexican operations will continue to produce gold and silver in the medium term and provide the company with revenue towards the pursuit of its exploration projects in Arizona and New Mexico,” said chief executive of VANE David Newton.

Elsewhere in the markets, Tissue Regenix (LON:TRX) has expanded its development agreement with NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), extending the scope of the clinical development activities for its decellularised human tissue based devices.

The company will now be able to fast-track clinical evaluations of additional human tissue applications using NHSBT's development capacity and clinical network.

Tissue Regenix has the exclusive commercialisation rights to all data generated from the NHSBT trials.

“NHSBT has unparalleled relationships with the NHS clinical community and world-class development facilities and these will enable us to jointly address a range of significant clinical needs in a cost and time efficient manner,” said managing director of Tissue Regenix Antony Odell.

Finally, Iofina (LON:IOF) has raised £4.3 million via a share placing at a price of 37.5 pence per share, which represents a premium of 1.4 percent to Thursday’s closing price.

The proceeds will be used to fund the current rollout of the third and fourth plants, iodine leases and to provide the working capital needed for the anticipated increase in sales from iodine production. 

“With the uncertainty in the global markets, the Directors believe it is prudent for the Company to be fully funded in order to maximise its business plan,” the company told investors today.

Iofina said that without the placing, it would have to slow down the roll out of its plant in the second half of 2012.