2:00pm: Blue-chip miners mostly rise on Chinese stats
London’s blue-chip miners were mostly trading in positive territory, supported by positive Chinese economic stats.
Rio Tinto Plc (LON:RIO) shares added 26p or 0.65% trading at 4,030p, however, BHP Billiton plc (LON:BLT) edged 3p or 0.24% to 1,603p.
Glencore Plc (LON:GLEN) climbed 3p or 0.74% to 410p and South32 Ltd (LON:S32) gained 0.8p or 0.37% to 219.2p.
Anglo American Plc (LON:AAL) shares were down 5.6p or 0.33% to 1,749p.
“The Chinese data release this morning contained many surprises with demand indicators both inflecting upwards and accelerating downwards,” Richard Knights, mining analyst at Liberum Securities.
“For the short term this provides an unclear direction, particularly as we head into Chinese New Year (16th Feb) with many data sets now not reported until mid-March.”
11:30am: Galantas Gold shares soar, while EMIS reveals NHS service problems
Galantas Gold Corp (LON:GAL) has given investors an encouraging update, sending its shares up 55% to 7.58p, on its ongoing mine development activities at its gold project in Omagh, Northern Ireland.
In a statement, Galantas highlighted that it has now received a report from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, which has been monitoring operations, and, as the company expected, there is no evidence that activities at the mine site are having a detrimental effect on the chemical quality of the groundwater around the site or of the Kerr Burn.
New equipment is due on-site before the end of the month, and it is expected that this will see a substantial increase in the development rate.
Veterinary services firm CVS Group (LON:CVSG) shot up 187p or 18% to trade at 1,218p after it revealed like-for-like sales growth in a trading update for the year ended December 31.
Equity dilution was behind the 17% decline in Herencia Mining PLC’s (LON:HER) share price, as the company notified investors of a US$400,000 drawdown under a financing facility with its two major shareholders.
Additionally, the company revealed that a drill programme was completed earlier than expected - with 2,400 metres drilled, rather than the planned 3,000 metres.
Health services software firm EMIS Group PLC (LON:EMIS) shares dropped, down 148p or 15.37% to 815p, following an admission that there “has been a failure to meet certain service levels and reporting obligations with NHS Digital.”
The company said it is currently working in collaboration with NHS Digital to confirm the scale of the issue and assess the full service and contractual impact. It added that patient safety and patient data was not put at risk.
Deltex Medical PLC (LON:DEMG) gave back some 20%, following yesterday’s strong share price performance driven by the new business it landed for a new hospital in the United States.
9:30am: Estate agent stocks slump as Countrywide reveals “disappointing” quarter
Estate agent Countrywide PLC (LON:CWD) was hit in bearish trading, down 15% at 114.4p, following an update on what was described as a “disappointing” fourth quarter performance - including a 14% drop in total income, with the UK business down 17%.
Earnings (EBITDA), meanwhile, is seen at around £26mln which would be a 45% drop with the company blaming changes in the sales and lettings structure over the past 12 to 24 months.
Foxtons Group PLC (LON:FOXT), down 3.6p or 4.4% to 78.39, and Rightmove PLC (LON:RMV) both followed, losing 98p or 2.15% down to 4,463p.
Costa Coffee owner Whitbread PLC (LON:WTB) was up around 1.9%, at 3,926p on the release of its trading update.
Royal Mail Group PLC (LON:RMG) was falling after its Christmas period trading update, with the share down 1.6% to 459.3p, which looked reasonable on paper.
“A good Christmas performance by Royal Mail but hardly enough to persuade investors that anything materially has changed with regards the investment thesis,” said Neil Wilson, analyst at ETX Capital.
Primark owner Associated British Foods PLC (LON:ABF), meanwhile, was down almost 3% to 2,772p.
Accendo Markets analyst Henry Croft highlighted that Primark bucked the trend of the broader retailers which saw a slowdown, but, the group’s disappointing overseas performance detracts from an otherwise “much rosier picture”.
Proactive news headlines:
Galantas Gold Corporation (LON:GAL) has given investors an encouraging update on its ongoing mine development activities at its gold project in Omagh, Northern Ireland.
Challenger Acquisitions Limited (LON:CHAL) has invested in a second giant observation wheel project, this time in Dallas, Texas.
Kefi Minerals PLC (LON:KEFI) has upgraded the value of its Tulu Kapi project in Ethiopia. The junior, though, has ended its relationship with infrastructure group Oryx, which had previously agreed to provide US$135mln of project finance to build and operate the mine.
ImmuPharma PLC (LON:IMM) has completed the pivotal Phase III study of its Lupuzor lupus treatment, leaving it on track to publish top-line data from the current quarter.
FairFX Group PLC (LON:FFX), the electronic banking and international payments group, expects turnover and profits for 2017 to be ahead of market expectations.
Ortac Resources PLC (LON:OTC) has announced plans to expand and speed up its drilling after further encouraging gold assay results from its Akyanga deposit, the most advanced project at the CASA licence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
FFI Holdings PLC (LON:FFI) is to take over the running of German giant Allianz’s entertainment insurance arm, a business that has underwritten thousands of films and television series. Reel Media, acquired by FFI last month, has entered a strategic relationship with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) to become the managing general agent for its US-based studio, independent film and television business as well as its US loan-out corporation and touring business.
Healthcare-led marketing consulting group Cello Group PLC (LON:CLL) said it traded well in 2017 with continued strong growth from its Cello Health division. Results should be in line with expectations.
Project operator Egdon Resources PLC (LON:EDR) has revealed that the tussle over planning permission for the Wressle field is not over. The onshore UK company - alongside London-listed partners Europa Oil & Gas PLC (LON:EOG) and Union Jack Oil PLC (LON:UJO) - told investors that it will now make a new planning application to the North Lincolnshire council seeking consent for the Wressle field development.
Exploration partners Tullow Oil PLC (LON:TLW) and Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd (LON:ECO,CVE:EOG) have decided to take forward the Orinduik project, offshore Guyana, into Phase Two of its licence. It means the partners are committing to a new programme of seismic exploration, to gather at least 1,000 square kilometres of 3D data, though this work has actually already been undertaken (with some 2,550 square kilometres of data captured in September).
Shanta Gold (LON:SHG) has reported a strong final quarter of 2017 for its New Luika Gold Mine, in Southwest Tanzania, with gold production of 21,288 ounces, an increase of 17% on the third quarter.
BlueRock Diamonds PLC (LON:BRD) has taken its first samples from the K5 pipe at the Kareevlei diamond mine in Kimberley South Africa. While too small a sample to make firm conclusions, Adam Waugh, chief executive, said the results were encouraging and warranted further exploration.
Haydale Graphene Industries PLC (LON:HAYD), the global advanced materials group, has announced the appointment of Arden Partners as its nominated adviser to the group with immediate effect.