The bargain hunters were out in force in the oil sector as the outlook for the black sticky stuff began to improve.
On the shopping list were juniors Circle Oil (LON:COP), Bowleven (LON:BLVN) and Rockhopper Exploration (LON:RKH), which mustered some pretty impressive gains.
In the case of Circle the rise was almost 18%, although bombed out doesn’t really begin to describe the carnage wrought by a 76% fall in the share price over the past year.
If you squint and ignore the ongoing travails of Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) listed below, then it has been a fairly decent day for the juniors oilers.
There is some hope ahead of the Doha summit that the world’s major producers will come to an accord that will allow crude to bump along in the mid-forty dollars a barrel.
Whisper it, some are even talking about US$50 being achievable in the near term.
Anyway, the FTSE AIM All-Share closed the day barely changed at 732.29 – a rather tame end to the week in which the small-caps have risen around 2% in value.
The index of blue-chip shares down around 21 points at 6,343.75 with a mix of BREXIT fears and worries over the health of the Chinese economy haunting the elite 100.
One of the top fallers was the shopping centre specialist INTU Properties (LON:INTU), which fell 3.5% after the British Retail Consortium logged another monthly decline in footfall.
Part of it was the timing of Easter, but the BRC said there are structural changes at play here too.
By that it means more of us are buying online rather than venturing to the Harlequin shopping centre in Watford, or Newcastle’s Eldon Square, which are both INTU properties.
Ouch. The market's favourite punchbag takes another whack
It was another dire day for everyone’s favourite punch bag stock, Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP), which was down a further 16% on funding worries.
In the last five trading days alone it has seen 40% wiped from its value - and is currently changing hands for 4.08p.
Every time I see the price I dread bumping into a friend who sold at more than £4 a share and manged in the process to fund a whole new wing to his already huge seaside mansion.
He never tires of telling me, using 20-20 hindsight to back up his point, that GKP at four quid was what he gleefully describes as a “nutter stock” – where the price is out of whack with reality.
His benchmark at the time of selling was Dragon Oil, which producing tens of thousands of barrels a day and was therefore supremely cash generative.
Overbought GKP, by contrast, owned what one analyst rather uncharitably described as the world’s longest candle (owing the waxy viscosity of the oil unearthed from the Shaikan field in Kurdistan).
Anyway folks, ignoring the kicking being meted out to GKP, the AIM All-Share remained in positive territory, though only just (it was up 0.09 points at 732.62).
It fared better than the FTSE 100, which was stuck firmly in reverse gear as it traded down 27.79 at 6,338.2p at 2pm.
The pick of the AIM market this afternoon was Orogen Gold (LON:ORE), which was up 38% in afternoon trade and has gained around 50% this week.
There was a sharp spike in trading volumes around 10.30am and then again two hours later that even the bulletin board bullshiners were at a loss to explain.
Perhaps the market’s regulators can prompt Orogen to explain.
On the blue-chip index the housing and housing-related stocks were given a pummelling amid fear that Britain’s exit from the EU will hit the residential market.
Berkeley Group (LON:BKG), Barrett Developments (LON:BDEV) and Persimmon were down between 2-4% in early afternoon trading.
Building materials firms Travis Perkins (LON:TPK) and Wolseley (LON:WOS) were similarly affected.
City broker Liberum, in a note covered on Proactive earlier, said the property sector “is one of few listed sectors that will be directly impacted by the outcome of the BREXIT referendum.”
For investors in the likes of Savills (LON:SVS), Shaftesbury (LON:SHB) and online giants Rightmove (LON:RMV) and Zoopla (LON:ZPLA) it’s wait-and-see time until June 23.
Mid Morning
Footsie's losses slowly extended throughout the morning but the FTSE Aim All-Share defied the trend and was trading higher in the lunchtime session.
The Aim All-Share was, admittedly, less than a point higher on the day, but it was in positive territory at 733, putting it ahead of the more narrowly-based measure, the FTSE Aim 100, which was down half a point at 3,459.
The FTSE 100, meanwhile, evidently got a nose bleed after setting a new high for 2016 and was down 26 at 6,339, with house builders having an especially poor time of it.
The US market was expected to open higher, but that offered little succour to UK-focused investors; however, even the most insular of UK investors will be keeping half an eye out on news from the G20 meeting in Washington today.
Alpha Pyrenees Trust Limited (LON:ALPH) was the top performer in London after it said a new extension to its loan facilities had been agreed.
Altitude Group PLC (LON:ALT) was living up to its name, rising 3.75p to 14.75p. The shares ended last week at 8.82p and the share price rise has not gone unnoticed, obliging the company to release a statement saying it was in early stage discussions over the sale of its exhibitions and publications businesses.
Not living up to its name was Strat Aero PLC (LON:AERO), the international aerospace company. The share price has been anything but stratospheric of late, and it tumbled a further 0.25p today to 1.625p as it updated on its legal dispute with Hulsey Smith, the former chairman and chief executive of its Aero Kinetics subsidiary.
The company has sued Smith, alleging fraud and, as expected by the company, Smith has counter-sued.
Open
The performance of shares was as drab as the weather in London after some so-so Chinese gross domestic product data.
First quarter growth in the People's Republic of 6.7% year-on-year was bang in line with expectations, and was the lowest growth rate in seven years.
Monthly data “suggested a turn for the better in March,” according to Daiwa Capital Markets.
“Overall, therefore, cause for cautious optimism about the near-term economic outlook from today’s Chinese data; however, the improved momentum at the end of the quarter raises questions about the outlook for monetary policy, and, of course, China’s significant economic challenges remain,” the broker continued.
“Indeed, a recovery driven by construction is hardly what the economics doctor would have ordered, and with indebtedness in the secondary sector still very high, overcapacity remaining, and case for significant capital outflows still valid, the sustainability of the current upturn must be highly questionable,” it opined.
The top-share index, the FTSE 100, was off 19 points at 6,346, but further down the food chain things were marginally better, with the FTSE Aim 100 off five points at 3,454 and the FTSE Aim All-Share less than half a point softer at 732.
Herencia Resources PLC (LON:HER) was the biggest riser on the London market yesterday for no apparent reason, but all has been revealed today with the shares once again topping the charts, up 37% at 0.07p, as the multi-commodity development company confirmed it has received $100,000 as the first part of Tranche 1 of the $500,000 loan facility.
The company also revealed that managing director Graham Sloan is stepping down.
Also going well was Circle Oil PLC (LON:COP), after it revealed the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has agreed to extend the suspension of the December 2015 redetermination and any repayments due under its Reserve Based Lending facility until 13 May 2016.
IFC has indicated its willingness to consider further waivers as may be required for Circle to continue its current strategic review process based on circumstances applying at the time of any application.
The shares hardened 18% to 2.5p.
Acal Plc (LON:ACL) charged 17p higher to 262p after a well-received trading update.
Having said in February it was on track to meet earnings targets, it now says earnings for the ear will be slightly ahead of expectations.
On the gloomier side of the street, Patagonia Gold PLC (LON:PGD) was down one eighth of a penny and 1.625p after its results for a year that the company admitted had been a challenging one.
On the positive side, the performance of its Lomada mine in Argentina has improved significantly this year.