Curtains and carpets group Dunelm Group plc (LON:DNLM) saw shares add over 4.5% on Friday as it received a bullish assessment from broker heavyweight Deutsche bank, ahead of Christmas.
The bank lifted the price target to 685p from 640p but repeated a 'hold' rating.
Shares in the group added 4.72% to stand at 720.50p.
Dunelm has had a challenging year but the integration of its acquired online business WorldStores appears to be on track, says Deutsche.
LFL (Like-for-like) sales are predicted to be up 2% and total sales 12.9%, including £15m perimeter effect of consolidating the final two months of WorldStores.
Berkeley Group top riser...
Top riser on Footsie today was Berkeley Group Holdings PLC (LON:BKG), which buoyed other house builders, as the firm surged almost 9% to 4,216p.
Investors focused on upgraded forecasts and numbers rather than a warning that the group expects forward sales to continue to moderate after a decline in the first half, blaming Brexit uncertainty, among other factors.
Berkeley upgraded its forecast for the five years to April 2021 and posted an increase in first-half profits and revenues.
Berkeley calls peak as half-year profit leaps: Berkeley Group has posted a 36% rise in interim profit, but has warned its current financial year will be a peak for the group. https://t.co/bIRHE5VYN4
— UK Property News (@ukprop) December 8, 2017
Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV) was also higher - up over 4% to 633.5p.
On the losing side today was energy stock Empyrean Energy (LON:EME), which lost almost 13% to 11.88p as it updated on its Dempsey well, onshore California, which is operated by Sacgasco. The news did not impress the market.
Initial flow testing of the second deepest zone of gas shows in the Dempsey 1-15 well is now complete, the group said.
"It is very early days in the testing of the Dempsey 1-15 well, and whilst the bottom two zones have both flowed clean dry gas with very high down hole pressures, both zones exhibit tight permeability," said chief executive Tom Kelley.
"The pressure and potential extent of gas reservoir are significant and every effort is being made to use industry best practices in order to see if we can stimulate the second deepest zone to achieve a much better flow rate before moving up hole to test the next zones of interest."
Vela Technologies plc on a tear...
Blockchain technology is clearly the buzz topic of the moment and early stage investor Vela Technologies plc (LON:VELA) was among top London risers on Friday as it announced a deal to invest in one such firm.
It said it had struck a conditional agreement to put in £200,589 to acquire a minority equity stake in BlockchainK2 Corp - a cryptocurrency and blockchain platform that offers mining exposure and proprietary software as a service (SAAS) blockchain solutions with leading industry partners.
Shares in Vela added over 31% to 0.73p.
BlockchainK2 Corp was formerly African Hydrocarbons Inc, which underwent a 'change of business' transaction.
When that's done, the firm plans to acquire no less than C$1.3mln worth of cryptocurrency mining equipment and employ such technology in a cryptocurrency mining data centre in the US to mine bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Indeed, tech stocks were in focus on Friday as filtration and environmental tech group Porvair plc (LON:PRV) also saw shares rise.
It added 8.44% to 488p as it unveiled 6% revenue growth for the year to November 30, while earnings for the year are forecast to be ahead of management expectations.
In the medtech world, ANGLE plc (LON:AGL; OTCQX:ANPC) saw shares surge over 6% to 50.50p as it revealed its ground-breaking liquid biopsy system Parsortix could mean a revolutionary new way of treating breast cancer patients.
READ - ANGLE's Parsortix device could revolutionise breast cancer treatment
The Norris Comprehensive Cancer centre, at the University of Southern California (USC), has been working with the blood test device for the last two years.
It has now presented findings showing Parsortix could be used to obtain information about potential cancer without the need for an invasive and costly biopsy of tissue.
Other Proactive news headlines:
Stem cell therapy specialist ReNeuron Group Plc(LON:RENE) said it is opening an office in Boston, Massachusetts, in order to support planned clinical programmes. It will be a base for medical and scientific communications staff ahead of three phase IIb trials in the US of its CTX and hRPC cell therapy candidates in people recovering from strokes and patients with retinal diseases.
Touchstone Exploration Inc (LON:TXP) (TSE:TXP) has raised £3mln through the sale of shares to institutional investors in the United Kingdom. The share placing prices the new equity at 11.5p per share, a 6.1% discount to yesterday’s closing price. Cash proceeds from the placing are earmarked for an expanded well drilling programme.
Business-to-business software company Cloudbuy PLC (LON:CBUY) is set to raise up to £3.4mln to help strengthen its balance sheet and take it towards profitability. Long-term backer and former Morgan Stanley managing director Roberto Sella has agreed to subscribe for up to £3.4mln worth of convertible secured loan notes.
Thor Mining PLC (LON:THR) (ASX:THR) has entered into an option agreement to acquire an interest in a tenement, which is currently subject to license application, known as the Western Shaw Project (ELA 45/4960), situated in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, for an option fee of A$50,000 (around £28,000). Should Thor elect to exercise the option, and subject to the grant of the licence application, the acquisition cost payable to the vendor, Redstone Metals Pty Ltd for a 75% interest in the tenement is A$250,000 (approximately £140,000).