Oil and gas investor Highlands Natural Resources Plc (LON:HNR) told investors it has raised £519,093 before expenses through the sale of new shares to an existing shareholder.
Proceeds will support the group’s strategy to capitalise on the current oil and gas environment through the acquisition and commercialisation of oil and gas assets and technology.
The firm was a notable gainer in London, adding almost 24% on the day to 26 p a pop.
And it helped to bolster small cap markets midweek, which had started in lacklustre fashion, but turned things round by the afternoon.
FTSEAIM100 added 0.01% to 3,409, while the FTSE AIM All share gained 0.02% to go to 729,370.
Bigger brother Footsie, having started around six points lower as the day began, closed over 35 points higher, at 6,319.
The biggest gainer was mining titan Anglo American (LON:AAL), which gained 4.45% to 696.9p.
In focus for traders around the globe is the impending decision of the Fed over interest rates, although general consensus is there will be no rate rise..
Michael Hewson, at CMC Markets, noted: "Further complicating matters will be the latest Bank of Japan rate meeting, which given the recent earthquake damage and poor economic data, will place much greater scrutiny on Japan’s next policy move given the failure of the move to negative rates to illicit a positive economic uplift."
Small cap miners were doing well. Wishbone Gold (LON:WSBN) rose 19.32% to 0.53p as it confirmed discussions are underway about a £2mln debt package to fund current operations.
Golden Saint Resources (LON:GSR), the gold and diamond mining group, finished over 58% higher at 0.07p and ECR Minerals (LON:ECR) rose 25% to 0.03p.
Elsewhere, Outsourcery (LON:OUT), rose 27.59% to 4.63p as it confirmed that it has reached agreement with its principal lender, Vodafone on a new conditional drawdown working capital facility.
Rose Petroleum PLC (LON:ROSE) was a big faller, losing over 16% to 0.18p, despite it moving to “substantially de-risk” the business following a strategic review of its portfolio of assets in Utah that caps costs and decommissioning liabilities.
The firm said it was terminating its earn-in agreement governing ownership of its Mancos acreage.
It has also agreed with Rockies Standard Oil Company to hand back the Cisco Dome field, wells, pipelines, gas tap, gas plant and all the equipment. Rose will cover the plug and abandonment costs of four wells put at US$320,000 and leave operator bonds in place with the State of Utah and the Bureau of Land Management.
Blur Group (LON:BLUR) was also down – over 17%% to 11.38p after its full-year results statement.