FTSE 100 edged lower in early dealings with worries about a global recession after yesterday’s World Bank downgrade dampening the mood. London’s blue-chip index was down 12 at 7,589 in early trades.
Melrose Industries was the biggest riser as it confirmed it will begin a £500mln share buyback programme on Thursday after agreeing this week to sell its Ergotron business. The FTSE 100 engineer said it wanted to distribute capital to shareholders in the “quickest way.”
UK house prices increased by 1.0% in May, the eleventh consecutive monthly rise, according to the latest Halifax survey, but at the slowest annual rate so far this year. Annual house price inflation edged down from 10.8% in April to 10.5%.
Keywords Studios has agreed to buy Forgotten Empires, the developer of Microsoft’s Age of Empires franchise, for US$32.5mln conditional on performance. The video game ancillary specialist added that trading so far this year had been up to scratch.
Gran Tierra Energy shares were rising as it told investors its paid off its credit facility and confirmed a ramp-up in production as new wells were brought online in South America. The Colombia and Ecuador focussed oiler said production has so far averaged 30,500 barrels of oil per day in the second quarter.
Among the small caps, AfriTin said initial drilling results from its flagship Uis mine in Namibia produced better-than-expected lithium grades. A lithium and tantalum infill drilling programme is now underway to firm up the resource.
Hercules Site Services, meanwhile, declared an interim dividend of 0.6p as it reported underlying profits ahead of management expectations. Revenue at the construction staff supplier increased 42% year-on-year to £19.9mln.