UK small caps were outshining big caps in early deals with copper junior Weatherly International PLC (LON:WTI) the runaway gainer.
Its shares zoomed up 65% to 0.83p after an impressive production update from its Tschudi copper asset in Namibia, meaning it maintained its track record of meeting or surpassing production guidance at Tschudi.
The first three months of the year - the third quarter of the company's financial year - it delivered quarterly production of 4,442 tonnes of copper cathode, which was 4% above its nameplate production rate of 17,000 tonnes per annum, and up from 4,076 tonnes in the preceding quarter.
Direct cash costs, known as C1 costs were US$3,429 per tonne, remaining well below guidance of US$4,250-4,350 per tonne for the current financial year, Weatherly said.
Sticking to the sector, also making gains again was Ireland focused Connemara Mining (LON: CON), up almost 23% to 2.60p, as it reported drilling results from its short hole programme at the Inishowne gold licences in Ireland.
In the markets, FTSE AIM100 was up 0.22% to 3,463, while FTSE AIM All-share added 0.18% to 732.520. Meanwhile bigger cousin FTSE100 was down over 22 points to 6,340.
The biggest faller on Footsie was fashion giant Burberry (LON:BRBY), which shed over 8% to stand at 1,236p as it warned on profits. Also down was housebuilder group Persimmon (LON:PSON), down 4.7% to 1,927p.
The group holds an AGM today where it will say consumer confidence in the sector is being supported by continued progress made by the UK economy.
Back to smaller fry and Côte d'Ivoire based palm oil firm DekelOil Public Ltd (LON:DKL) revealed a 134% rise in revenues thanks to record production volumes in 2015. Shares nudged 0.32% higher at 1.58p.
DekelOil produced 35,770 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) and 6,221 kernels in the twelve months to December 31, up from 14,242 tonnes and 2,504 kernels in 2014.
Another riser was finance house Private & Commercial Finance Group plc (LON:PCF), up 7.87% to 24p as it said performance in the 12 month period just ended will be slightly ahead of expectations.
Portfolio performance and profitability in year to end March outperformed management objectives.
On the flipside, life sciences group OptiBiotix Health PLC (LON:OPTI) shares declined 2.81% to 78.72p despite revealing results, which charted a period of significant progress – with the momentum carrying on into the current financial year.
OptiBiotix's specialism is using the human microbiome, found in the gut and on the skin, to create treatments for time-bomb problems related to obesity.
It now boasts 11 patents protecting its technology (up from five), it has eight strain registrations and seven trademarks.