Below are some of the main news-driven share price changes among FTSE 350 members at 1.00pm.
RISERS
Vedanta Resources (LON:VED), up 10.1% at 491.9p. Vedanta has received the relevant consent, licence and approvals to commence the iron-ore mining operations in the State of Goa for some of its leases. The company is likely to recommence operations from August 10, 2015 at its biggest mine at Codli in Sanguem taluka in Goa.
Balfour Beatty (LON:BBY), up 1.8% at 246p. RBS Capital Markets has upgraded the infrastructure specialist to “outperform” from “sector perform”.
Fidelity China Special Situations (LON:FCSS), up 1.6% at 138.5p. The investment fund enjoys a leg-up from the Shanghai Composite, which surged 4.9% higher today.
FALLERS
Esure (LON:ESUR), down 11.2% at 235.7p. The insurer’s shares crashed after interim profits slumped 21% year-on-year as accident claims rose.
Admiral Group (LON:ADM), down 1.7% at 1,456p. The car insurer falls in sympathy with esure. The company also announced this morning that Penny James, a non-executive director, has been appointed group chief risk officer and executive director of sector peer Prudential, with effect from the beginning of next month.
Randgold Resources (LON:RRS), down 1.6% at 3,840p. Investec has moved from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’, while Credit Suisse has stuck in ‘neutral’ but has chopped the price target to 4,270p from 5,050p.
Below are some of the main news-driven share price changes as at 8.30am.
RISERS
Tethys (LON:TPL, TSE:TPL), up 20.3% at 8.875p. The in-play energy firm confirmed it has received a further non-binding indicative offer from Nostrum pitched at an indicative C$0.2185 per share. The financing that was to be offered by rival bidder AGR Energy will not now go ahead, but Nostrum has agreed to provide an unsecured US$5mln loan facility to Tethys.
UK Oil & Gas (LON:UKOG), up 7.8% at 2.08p. After trading finished on Friday, it was announced that the planning consent for an exploratory borehole in the PEDL143 licence in the Weald Basin, Surrey has been approved. UK Oil & Gas is set to farm-in to the prospect and take a 20% stake in PEDL143.
Petropavlovsk (LON:POG), up 4.0%. As a result of the recent open offer by IRC, Petropavlovsk’s stake has been reduced from 45.39% to 35.83%, which means IRC is no longer consider a subsidiary of the London-listed gold miner.
FALLERS
Independent Oil & Gas (LON:IOG), down 40.4% at 7.00p. The North Sea oil explorer has been left in the lurch by an unnamed big cap backer, which has pulled out of a planned investment in the firm as a result of falling oil prices.
Fitbug (LON:FITB), down 28.1% at 2.875p. The online personal health specialist has raised £1.65mln through a placing of shares at 2.5p each augmented by a convertible loan note issue.
Tern (LON:TERN), down 25.4% at 11.75p. Another company raising cash is Tern, the investment company focused on technology companies that operate in the Cloud. After a strong run this year the company has tapped the market for £720,000, issuing 6mln shares at 12p each.