London’s blue chip stocks made gains this morning despite a mixed session in Asian markets overnight.
Chinese housing data showed house prices fell for the eighth straight month, underlining the rather fragile state of the world’s second largest economy.
In Europe, Greece warned it has officially run out of money after tapping into its emergency reserve to make a €750mln payment to the International monetary Fund (IMF).
Meanwhile, in the UK, the FTSE 100 rebounded from last week’s mixed finish to rise 50 points to 7,008.
Miner Fresnillo (LON:FRES) led the risers after it said its 2018 silver production target of 65mln ounces remains on pace. Shares jumped 3.6% to 779p.
It wasn’t all good news however, as BHP Billiton led the fallers (LON:BLT).
The mining company said the spin-off of its South32 business raised US$9bn but this was at the lower end of estimates.
Analysts had forecast a market capitalisation of between US$7bn and US$13bn. Shares dropped 4% to 1,468p.
Away from the index, 888 Holdings (LON:888) confirmed speculation that it had made a takeover approach for Bwin.party (LON:BPTY).
It is the second confirmed approach in four days after GVC (LON:GVC) showed its hand late last week. Shares in 888 Holdings fell 4% to 162p while Bwin gained more than 6% to 105p.
In broker news, engineer Weir Group (LON:WEIR) received an upgrade to ‘buy’ from CitiGroup. Shares climbed 3.5% to 1,966p.
Conversely, US heavyweight Goldman Sachs recommended people dump shares in Premier Oil (LON:PMO). It put a ‘sell’ rating on the stock sending shares 2.5% lower.
In small caps, Nostra Terra Oil & Gas agreed to take a 1% interest in the San Miguel prospect in South Texas. Shares climbed 6.7% to 0.1p.
On the other side of the coin, TomCo Energy (LON:TOM) was dealt a blow when Questerre Energy Corporation, an associate of Red Leaf Resources, indicated a delay to the commercialisation of EcoShale technology. Shares dropped 27% to 0.14p.
Meanwhile, SolGold’s (LON:SOLG) chief executive Alan Martin has left the group with immediate effect, the copper explorer announced today. Shares dropped 6% to 2.7p.