Small caps were outpacing larger stocks at the get-go, with a handful of AIM resource companies offering support.
Over on Footsie things were less rosy and FTSE100 was down around 11 at the time of writing at 6,856 with miners weighing heavily. FTSE AIM 100 was up 0.25% at 3,780, while the FTSE AIM All share was up 0.24% to 792.830. It comes as oil prices continue to lag with US crude down 1.5% to US$47.38 a barrel having tumbled 3% yesterday. There was more on possible Fed moves overnight as Janet Yellen prepares for her keynote speech at Jackson Hole on Friday, with Dallas Fed governor Robert Kaplan added to the feeling there may well be another interest rate rise across the Pond this year. Commodities giant Glencore (LON:GLEN) was in the top five Footsie laggard club this morning, falling 2.66% to 184.75p as it posted a whopping 66% drop in first-half profit on lower raw-materials prices. The fall in commodities last year prompted big re-think at the Swiss based group, and the company scrapped the dividend, sold $2.5 billion of stock, disposed of assets and made big spending cuts. On the winning front, WPP PLC (LON:WPP), the advertising giant, shot up 5.63% to 1,845p as it told investors pre-tax profit was up 15.8% to £690mln in the latest first half, despite slower global growth. On the Brexit vote, Sir Martin Sorrell said it was still too early to say how things would pan out for the economy. On AIM, the top riser in London was Cluff Natural Resources plc (LON: CLNR), which added 19.15% to 1.40p as its latest half year report clearly cheered the market. Notably, in the Southern North Sea, the firm said its consultants, Lyme Bay had identified a number of highly attractive prospects and leads which are anticipated to significantly increase the firm's resource base. The results of this work are currently being independently assessed and are expected to be incorporated into an updated CPR in September 2016, the group said. Goldplat (LON:GDP) also did well, up over 18% to 6.5p as it saw profits surge in the second half of its trading year due to a combination of a higher gold price and the lower value of the pound. The group, which extracts gold from mining waste, expects profits in the year to June to be around £2mln on sales of £20mln. That compares with an interim profit and sales of £395,000 and £10.7mln and a loss of around £800,000 last year. The market consensus forecast was for profit of £560,000 on revenue of £21mln. Another riser was business-to-business (B2B) e-procurement group cloudBuy PLC (LON:CBUY), which added almost 9% in morning trade to 7.63p. Potash mine developer Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX) was also higher - up 5.33% to 44.5p. Last week, broker Shore Capital said an investment in the group should enjoy a significant uplift in value as the AIM group’s mine development project in Yorkshire is progressively derisked.
Risers & Fallers: Bioquell, Cluff Natural Resources, Goldplat, Molins, ONE Savings Bank, Tejoori https://t.co/BwFLTVKnrs via @proactive_uk
— Giles Gwinnett (@Gile74) 24 August 2016 v>
Snapshot at 8.15am
The FTSE 100 was down more than 40 points to 6,826.
The top winner is WPP plc (LON:WPP), up 3% to 1,803p after the advertising group beat sales expectations with robust revenues.
The biggest loser Old Mutual plc (LON:OML), down 3% to 198.5p.
News
H&T Group to provide its loan product through Cash Converters
Ariana Resources welcomes experienced mining engineer to board
Hodgson's horror is Paddy Power Betfair's boon https://t.co/BDRUrp4X4H
— Proactive News Desk (@UK_Proactive) August 24, 2016
Preview at 6.59am
London is expected to open lower as peak holiday season and the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday keep trading volumes thin.
Financial spread bet firms see FTSE 100 opening 20 points down from yesterday’s close of 6,868 after a mixed showing among Asia markets and steady performance on Wall Street.
On Wall Street there were gains for all three main indices with the Dow Jones Industrial up 18 at 18,547. Nasdaq and the S&P 500 also rose modestly.
Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen makes a keynote speech on Friday at the central bankers’ conference in Wyoming and speculation on whether there will be a pointer towards US higher rates has again been the market’s focus this week.
Tokyo was the best performer in Asia with the Nikkei up 87 points or 0.5% near the close. Hong Kong fell while Shanghai was flat.
UK company news will centre around miner and commodities trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) and its recovery from near collapse.
The programme of asset disposals has done wonders for the share price, which has more than doubled this year, helped by the recovery in commodity markets.
The company is targeting getting net debt down to US$17-18bn by the end of this year and if it is on track will be the focus of today’s interim results.
Credit Suisse expects half-year annualised earnings before interest and tax to fall below the company’s full-year guidance of US$2.4-2.7bn.
Contractor Costain has already indicated it had a strong first half so its statement should be upbeat though it will be one to watch for any Brexit comments.