Today's edition features:
Ariana Resources (LON:AAU)
"By the end of a week in which Trump had handed Theresa May the promise of a 'stronger' special relationship while facing off an international backlash over his attempts to block Muslim-country migrants, the Dow Jones posted its best week since early December having breached and remained above the 20,000 marker. From an investor point of view, however brutal, the immigration policy is not expected to have any material financial or commercial impact, even if one or two other reactionary politicians attempt to emulate his stand. Trump's Mexican stand-off meanwhile is another sign that his campaign pledges were for real, wrecking the peso and forcing its central bank to hike rates repeatedly in the process, which poses the risk of squeezing the economic life out of the US's third largest trading partner. Should it be allowed to continue, US$531bn of two-way trade in 2015 resulting in a deficit of US$58bn with the US is, from Donald Trump's point of view just part of the urgent need to re-balance the economy but for Mexico could be positively cataclysmic, forcing the territory into a deep recession. Beyond this the President's next target is, presumably, China, the US's no. 1 trading partner. Here any shift in the terms of trade could potentially send a shock wave through the whole global economy, not just hurt US consumers. In theory at least, an extended dispute here has the potential to slow growth in China to the point of significant devaluation and, potentially, create systemic risk, given the extent of overhanging debt; indeed significant measures already taken to limit capital flight, suggest its leaders are already bracing for a fight. Given this, however much they try to fight it, the odds-on bet still appears to be for a continuing flood of money into the US$ and Treasuries, the net result of which must be a wholly uncompetitive foreign exchange while pushing yields ever lower just at a time when the Fed is itching to raise rates in response to a prospective inflationary shock. These thoughts, along with the partial shut-down across Asia for the Chinese New Year, left the overnight markets in a sombre mood, with the three principal US equity indices ending fractionally mixed, with just the NASDAQ recording a positive movement. The Nikkei suffered from a temporary flow-back into the Yen as traders took profits and parked funds in the safe haven; the commodity-heavy ASX also saw a minor sell-off amongst mineral plays. This morning, London is not scheduled to release any significant macro data, although the Eurozone will publish a batch of figures, including Consumer and Industrial Confidence indicators; later the US also has a good number of releases such as Personal Income, Consumption and Home Sales. UK corporates due to release earnings or trading updates include Conviviality (CVR.L), Filtronic (FTC.L), Flybe (FLYB.L), Photonstar (PSL.L) and Porvair (PRV.L). London is seen opening somewhat cautionary this morning, with the FTSE-100 seen down some 30 points in early trade."
- Barry Gibb, Research Analyst
Markets
Europe
The FTSE-100 finished Friday's session 0.32% higher at 7,184.49, whilst the FTSE AIM All-Share index closed 0.63% better-off at 881.19. In continental Europe, the CAC-40 finished down 0.56% at 4,839.98 whilst the DAX was 0.29% lower at 11,814.27.
Wall Street
In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones shed 0.04% to 20,093.78, the S&P-500 lost 0.09% to stand at 2,294.69 and the Nasdaq added 0.1% to finish at 5,660.78.
Asia
In Asian markets this morning, the Nikkei 225 had fallen 0.51% to 19,368.85, while the Hang Seng dropped 0.06% to 23,360.78.
Oil
In early trade today, WTI crude was down 0.26% to $52.91/bbl and Brent was down 0.54% to $55.22/bbl.
Headlines
Volkswagen overtakes Toyota as the world's biggest carmaker
Volkswagen has overtaken Toyota to become the world's best-selling carmaker, the first time the German company has held the position. Japan's Toyota, which had topped sales for the past four years, sold 10.175 million vehicles globally in 2016. That fell short of the 10.31 million sales which VW reported last week. The milestone comes despite VW's scandal over emissions tests cheating, which sparked a global backlash and multiple lawsuits. Volkswagen, which makes the Audi, Porsche and Skoda brands, saw a 3.8% increase in sales buoyed by demand in China.
Source: BBC News
Company news
Ariana Resources (LON:AAU, 1.75p) - Speculative Buy
Ariana Resources, the gold-silver exploration and development company operating in Turkey, today announced results from its Phase 2 drill programme at the Kiziltepe project. Kiziltepe is being advanced towards production through a JV agreement (50:50) with Proccea Construction, mine production is expected in Q1 2017. Phase 2 comprised 15 RC holes with mineralisation intercepted in every hole through out the Arzu Central area; targeting extension of the mineralised vein system beneath cover between Arzu North and Arzu South areas. Highlights from the latest round of drilling include 11m grading 0.95g/t Au plus 35.91g/t Ag, 7m grading 4.00/t Au plus 27.51g/t Ag, 12m grading 1.96g/t Au plus 34.45/t Ag and 11m grading 1.83g/t plus 45.07/t Ag. In addition, arsenopyrite-rich style of mineralisation returned 11m grading 2.24g/t Au plus 11.06g/t Ag and the SE extension of Arzu North returned 8m grading 1.14g/t Au plus 15.64g/t Ag, including 2m grading 1.01g/t Au plus 17.50g/t Ag.
Our view: The Phase 2 drill results confirm the continuity of mineralisation and could potentially extend the planned open pits at Arzu South, Arzu North and Derya. As such, the Arzu Central target area has the potential to significantly increase the current resource base and extend the life of mine beyond the current eight years. We look forward to further targeted drill programmes focused on identifying high-grade mineralisation that could potentially support underground mining within the Arzu central area. In the meantime, we maintain a Speculative Buy rating on the stock.
Beaufort Securities acts as corporate broker to Ariana Resources plc