Encouraged by a strong showing on Wall Street, UK blue chips shrugged off their morning lethargy to push the Footsie into positive territory.
The FTSE 100 closed up 27 point at 6,708, with miners leading the advance, as the dollar ebbed following yesterday’s Fed meeting, thus making commodities more affordable.
Outside of the Footsie, discount retailer Poundland (LON:PLND) shed 11p at 300p despite racking up record sales last year. It warned that first half results this year will be ‘relatively subdued’.
Gaming software group Playtech (LON:PTEC) was off 7p at 801p after announcing a placing to raise £250mln to fund acquisitions including online trading platform Plus500.
House builder Berkeley Group (LON:BKG) fell a quid to 3,376p as Liberum Capital downgraded the stock to 'hold' after results on Wednesday, saying the shares had hit fair value.
Elsewhere, investors in Egdon Resources (LON:EDR) emerged as the happiest of the stakeholders in the onshore Wressle discovery well in Lincolnshire, where production testing has begun.
Egdon’s shares rose 9.1% to 15p, comfortably outperforming the other stake holders, namely Europa Oil & Gas (LON:EOG) and Union Jack Oil (LON:UJO).
Similarly, Stellar Resources (LON:STG), up 9.5%, outdid the other participants in the Horse Hill project near Gatwick Airport in East Sussex, where an independent consultant has suggested that the find may contain more than 9.2bn barrels of oil.
Investors in other Horse Hill plays Solo Oil (LON:SOLO), Doriemus (LON:DOR), and Evocutis (LON:EVO) looked on in envy at Stellar’s performance.
The shares in OptiBiotix (LON:OPTI) paused for breath today, weakening to 2% to 39.45p; that said, they have almost doubled in value so far this year as investors have tuned into the potential of the human microbiome.
What we are beginning to learn is this eco-system - a microbial genome if you will - affects immunity, cognitive heath and the metabolism.
According to Stephen O’Hara, founder and chief executive of OptiBiotix, it is far easier to influence than the human genome. His company is developing three nutritional supplements that will use the human biome to treat cholesterol and tackle obesity.
Across in the States another pioneer in the field announced plans for a US$100mln NASDAQ listing.
Seres Therapeutics caused a stir when its microbiome-focused drug SER-109 prevented C.difficile in 29 out of 30 patients.
The infection is one of the new super-bugs that has become resistant to traditional antibiotics.
O’Hara told Proactive Investors: “The impending IPO of Seres Therapeutics is great news for the industry and highlights the potential for modulating the human microbiome to improve human health.
“Seres Therapeutics’ Microbiome Therapeutics Platform has many commonalities with OptiBiotix’s Optiscreen platform in identifying microbes which can effectively engage with the microbiome of disease and shift it to one of health.
“Whilst OptiBiotix’s Optiscreen platform is currently being used to create nutritional supplements it has been developed as a pharmaceutical platform to optimise future potential opportunities.
“We wish Seres Therapeutics all the best in their forthcoming IPO and welcome them to the public markets.”
Finally, a mutter from the gutter suggested that Workspace (LON:WKP) is mulling a 150p per share offer for property group Quintain Estates & Development (LON:QED), which finished the day down 0.75p to 105.75p.