Today's edition features:
• Jangada Mines (LON:JAN)
Markets
Europe
The FTSE-100 finished yesterday's session 0.20% lower at 7,507.89 whilst the FTSE AIM All-Share index was down 0.23% at 1,018.91. In continental Europe, the CAC-40 finished 0.11% higher at 5,365.83 whilst the DAX was 0.16% higher at 12,976.40.
Wall Street
In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones closed 0.06% lower at 22,761.07, the S&P-500 fell 0.18% to 2,544.73 and the Nasdaq weakened 0.16% to end at 6,579.73.
Asia
In Asian markets this morning, the Nikkei was up 0.51% at 20,798.52 and the Hang Seng added 0.1% at 28,354.69.
Oil
In early trade today, WTI crude was 0.14% higher at $49.65 per barrel and Brent was up 0.13% at $55.86 per barrel.
Headlines
Higher food and clothing prices drives retail sales growth
Higher prices for food and clothing prices driven up by the weak pound fuelled retail sales growth last month. British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG figures showed that like-for-like retail sales rose 1.9% in September. That was far higher than the 0.4% increase for the same month last year. Total sales climbed 2.3%. Much of this growth was due to price rises filtering through, particularly in food and clothing, said BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson. "Retailers have worked hard to keep a lid on price rises following the depreciation of the pound, but with a potent mix of more expensive imports and increasing business costs from various government policies, something had to give at some point," she said. "Spending is still being focused towards essential purchases; with consumers buying their winter coats and back to school items, but shying away from big ticket items such as furniture and delaying the renewal of key household electrical goods." The survey showed that food sales rose by 2.5% on a like-for-like basis over the three months to September and 3.5% in total, while non-food sales rose by just 0.5%, or by 0.9% on a total basis. Non-food sales in stores slumped 2% last month, and slid by 1.5% in total in the three months to September. Yet online sales for non-food surged 10.7% in September - well above the three-month average of 10% - as shoppers responded well to online discounts. Paul Martin, KPMG UK's head of retail, said: "With potential interest rate rises on the horizon, shaky consumer confidence and ever-increasing levels of household debt, uncertainty remains. "We're now moving into the final quarter, which will ultimately define whether 2017 has been a good or bad year for retailers."
Source: BBC News
Company news
Jangada Mines (LON:JAN, 4.88p) – Speculative Buy
Jangada Mines, a natural resources company developing South America's largest and most advanced platinum group metals (PGM) project, announced an upgrade of its mineral resources at its Pedra Branca project in north-eastern Brazil. Measured and Indicated categories have increased by 35% and 74% respectively with 77% of the overall resource now in the Measured and Indicated categories. The higher category resources are expected to be converted into mineral reserves during the finalisation of the scoping study. Management also stated that it has an exploration target of more than 3Moz of PGM. As previously announced, Pedra Branca has a JORC (2012) compliant resource estimate of 23.1Mt grading 1.28g/t (Pd, Pt and Au) and contains an attractive suite of potential by-product credits including Ni, Cu, Co and Cr. Consultants, GE21 Consultoria Mineral, are currently working on a Scoping Study followed by a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) which is expected to be completed in Q4 2017. The Pedra Branca project comprises four main deposits and management is focused on bring the easily accessible high-grade surface oxides from the Curiu and Esbarro deposits into trial production in early 2018.
Our View: A 77% increase in the Measured and Indicated categories of the resource estimate is positive news for Jangada as these should convert into increased reserves and thus a longer life of mine and an increase in the project value. The Pedra Branca project is characterised by near surface high-grade oxide layers that are amenable to low-capex and opex costs with the potential to produce a PGM-bearing concentrate through a simple gravity separation and floatation process. We look forward to results from the Scoping Study followed by the PFS in Q4 2017 as the Company continues to fast track Pedra Branca towards trial mining in early 2018. In the meantime, we maintain a Speculative Buy rating on the stock.
Beaufort Securities acts as corporate broker to Jangada Mines Plc