FTSE 100 started on the front foot as investors ignored the ongoing Evergrande crisis to focus on rocketing oil prices after producers group Opec+ kept production unchanged yesterday. London’s leading index jumped 42 points to 7,053 in early trading.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) (NASDAQ:FB) closed nearly 5% lower on the Nasdaq on Monday after Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were down globally for around six hours. Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune declined by around 6 billion dollars but he still worth a mere $117 billion in total, making him now the sixth richest person in the world now. The company blamed ‘configuration changes’ on its network infrastructure.
Greggs PLC (LSE:GRG) (LSE:GRG) has upgraded full-year expectations after a strong sales performance in the summer. The baker still expects costs to increase towards the end of 2021 and the start of 2022 due to labour shortages and supply chain issues.
New car registrations have fallen to the lowest level seen in two decades. September registrations tumbled by over a third compared to the same month in 2020.
Med-tech group Inspiration Healthcare Group PLC (AIM:IHC) (AIM:IHC) hailed the successful integration of SLE, bought last year for £18mln, as it unveiled a strong set of interim results. It said synergies and cross-selling opportunities were “being realised” as interim revenues rose 47% and underlying earnings by 42%.
Altus Strategies PLC (AIM:ALS, TSX-V:ALTS, OTCQX:ALTUF) said the resource base at its 49%-owned Tabakorole project in Mali has been boosted to over a million ounces of gold. The project is operated by Altus’s joint venture partner Marvel Gold, which said around 70% of the resource lies within 150 metres of the surface.
Tharisa PLC (LSE:THS, JSE:THA, FRA:7YZ) has started cold commissioning of its Vulcan ultra-fine chrome recovery plant at its mine in South Africa. Once fully commissioned, the plant is expected to boost chrome recoveries from about 62% to 82%, resulting in an estimated 20% increase in production.