Today's edition features:
• Bezant Resources (LON:BZT)
"Just more fractional moves by the US major averages on Friday, but at least some of the downward pressure appeared to subside as they closed flat or with modest gains. The S&P-500, for example, eventually posted a 0.24% gain for the week that was dominated by a sharply falling oil price and increased uncertainty regarding the outlook for the Fed, and so global, central bank policy. Despite staging a modest recovery on Friday, its sub-index of energy stocks still notched up its biggest weekly decline in 18 months, with the slide in crude prices also pushing down projected inflation numbers, adding to concerns investors have already picked up suggesting above-trend US growth might finally be petering out. Reflecting this rather sharp reversal of sentiment, global equity fund inflows reportedly failed to break the US$1bn mark last week, having chalked-up a figure of almost 25-times that during the second week of June. US banks nevertheless end firmer as the Reserve stated that the largest of the nation's banks had survived its 'hypothetical' stress test, leading some traders to anticipate the opportunity for higher future dividend pay-outs from the sector. US government bonds meanwhile remained caught in their recent holding pattern, with yields slipping only slightly over the past fortnight, as investors await more convincing data to either confirm or challenge lowered inflation expectations; the yield on the 10-year Treasuries settled at 2.146%, compared with 2.153% on Thursday. Tech and commodity stocks helped Asia to close broadly firmer this morning as traders sought out oversold situations. Sentiment was helped by Tropical Storm Cindy which last week resulted in several oil rigs and platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, an area responsible for over 17% of the country's oil production being temporarily suspended, with press reports suggesting at least one sixth of normal output had been hit. Crude oil futures accordingly rose higher, pushing prices up a notch further from Friday's US close, with August-delivery Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rising $0.48 or 1.1% to $46.02 a barrel. China continued to celebrate the inclusion of its A-shares in the MSCI Emerging Markets index, with its CSI300 closing up 1.14% this morning to a fresh 18 month high, while the region's other principal bourses chalked up more modest gains. On Friday, the STOXX Europe 600 slipped 0.2% amid losses in autos and food and beverage companies, with the Xetra Dax finishing off 0.47% and the CAC-40 down 0.3%. London's export-heavy FTSE-100 declined 0.2% as the Pound climbed 0.2% to $1.2708, paring the week's declines. At the end of last week, however, Theresa May's government appeared to be stumbling at the first post as Donald Tusk stated the UK's offer to EU nations could 'worsen the situation' and Deutsche bank suggested the country was headed for 'Zombie Government', noting on Friday that "The Conservatives have no appetite for another general election with polls now indicating a Labour lead. Meanwhile, the Labour leadership is likely to want the government to own the outcome of very messy Brexit talks." While the UK will probably not dip into recession, the fact remains that current proceedings are knocking confidence enough to affect consumer and household spending, particularly with residential property prices looking like they will shortly go into reverse. The only UK macro data due for release today is May's BBA Mortgage Approvals. Nothing is anticipated from the EU, but the US details its Chicago Fed National Activity Index and Durable Good data for may as well as the June's Fed Dallas Manufacturing Business Index. UK corporates due to release earnings or trading updates include just Benchmark Holdings and Sirius Real Estate. Traders will be seeking more information regarding weekend leaks that Sky Network television and Vodafone NZ have dropped their planned merger while the Queen's speech debate resumes in Parliament. Picking up on the more positive tone of the overnight markets, however, London is seen making modest gains at the opening, with the FTSE-100 seen rising 10 to 15 points in early trade."
- Barry Gibb, Research Analyst
Markets
Europe
The FTSE-100 finished Friday's session 0.20% lower at 7,424.13 whilst the FTSE AIM All-Share index was up 0.11% at 969.25. In continental Europe, the CAC-40 finished down 0.30% at 5,266.12 whilst the DAX finished 0.47% lower at 12,733.41.
Wall Street
In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones fell 0.01% to 21,394.76, the S&P-500 rose 0.16% to 2,438.3 and the Nasdaq added 0.46% to finish the week at 6,265.25.
Asia
In Asian markets this morning, the Nikkei 225 had improved 0.1% to 20,152.38, while the Hang Seng rose 0.38% to 15,768.13.
Oil
In early trade today, WTI crude was up 1.21% to $43.53/bbl and Brent was up 1.27% to $46.12/bbl.
Headlines
Holland & Barrett sold for £1.8bn to Russian billionaire
Holland & Barrett, the UK's biggest health food retailer, is being bought by a Russian billionaire for £1.8bn. L1 Retail, a fund controlled by Mikhail Fridman, is buying the 1,150-store chain from Carlyle, the US private equity firm, the Financial Times reported. Carlyle acquired Holland & Barrett as part of its $3.8bn purchase in 2010 of US firm Nature's Bounty, now NBTY. The chain has about 600 stores in the UK as well as China, India and the UAE. The retailer, which employs more than 4,000 people, was founded in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, in 1870. Holland & Barrett has opened more than 300 stores in the seven years since the private equity takeover, the Financial Times reported.
Source: BBC News
Company news
Bezant Resources (LON:BZT, 1.00p) - Speculative Buy
Bezant has announced that its gold platinum processing plant has arrived on site and will begin commissioning this week. All the earthworks and necessary civil engineering are already complete, including construction of a closed water tailings circuit. Bezant will ramp-up production of gold and platinum in July.
Our View: This is excellent news - within one and a half years of its first investment into Choco province Bezant will be producing. Having trial mined/bulk sampled the deposit, completed a positive Scoping Study and acquired 2659 ha of licences. The other important aspect is the local partner and processing technology Bezant has bought in. Through its mining services agreement with Exumax SAS, Bezant has effectively put together an operations team with extensive alluvial mining experience in Colombia, including social licence and environmental know how. Bezant also acquired the technical drawings for the alluvial processing plant so it can have subsequent plants manufactured in Colombia. The medium term investment case is based on Bezant constructing multiple plants across the region, each one producing profitable gold and platinum. Our main focus now is on plant 1 achieving full capacity and profitability. We have a Speculative Buy recommendation.
Beaufort Securities acts as corporate broker to Bezant Resources plc