Overview: the FTSE 100 climbed to new year highs today, breaking through the 5,200 mark as most miners and energy stocks were on the rise, bolstered by higher commodity prices. The FTSE 100 was further strengthened by a strong start on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average added over 0.5% in early trade following a better than expected quarterly report from Dutch electronics giant Philips (NYSE: PHG), which posted a €174 million profit, while a loss was projected. Philips’ results came right after aluminium producer Alcoa (NYSE: AA), whose better than expected quarterly figures opened the 3Q corporate reporting season last week.
Old Mutual (LSE: OML) led the FTSE 100 with a 5% gain. Investment management business Man Group (LSE: EMG) and commercial property company Segro (LSE: SGRO) followed, climbing 3%. Copper miners also were in demand with Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) and Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) rising 3% and 2.7% respectively.
Only a handful of FTSE 100 constituents lost more than 1% today. Tour operators were the leading fallers with Thomas Cook Group (LSE: TCG) and TUI Travel (LSE: TT) shedding 1.4% and 1% respectively. Bailed out bank Lloyds (LSE: LLOY), which is reportedly gearing up for a multibillion cash call to avoid participation in the government’s asset protection scheme, was the leading faller in the blue chip index with a 1.5% decline. Energy companies also slumped with National Grid (LSE: NG) and Centrica (LSE: CNA) declining over 1%.
Commodities
Oil prices were on the rise today, helping major energy stocks to gains. November Brent Crude climbed to US$71.69/barrel, while US light, sweet crude for November delivery improved to US$73.66/barrel.
Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) held on to early gains of over 1%. Fellow FTSE 100 constituents Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) and Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) added almost 1.5%, while BG Group (LSE: BG) rose 1.8%.
Petrofac (LSE: PFC) went against the tide, posting marginal declines.
Mid caps also were in buying mode today. Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) led the sector with a 3% climb. Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) and Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) were up 1.5% and 1% respectively in late afternoon.
Atlantic Canada operating oil and gas group Enegi Oil (AIM: ENEG) led the sector with a 57% hike. North American focused oil & gas junior Pantheon Resources (AIM: PANR) followed with a 9.5% rally, while energy investor Xtract Energy PLC (AIM: XTR) climbed 6%. North Sea focused oil explorer and developer Xcite Energy (AIM: XEL) also performed well, rising 8%.
EU operating Rome-based oil junior Mediterranean Oil & Gas (AIM: MOG) and London-headquartered oil and gas company Leni Gas & Oil (AIM: LGO) gained more than 5%. North American based explorer Nighthawk Energy (AIM: HAWK) rose 4.5%, as did Africa and FSU operating oil and gas junior Victoria Oil & Gas (AIM: VOG). South American Focused explorer Pan Andean Resources (AIM: PRE) climbed 4%.
Latin America operating junior Gold Oil (AIM: GOO) went against the tide, slipping 5%.
Miners mixed as Gold and Silver rise
Gold continued its climb today, rising to US$1,056/oz. Other precious metals followed as Silver improved to US$17.86/oz and Platinum moved up to US$1,339/oz.
Major mining stocks didn’t show much movement today. Gold producer Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS), whose takeover of Moto Goldmines (AIM: MOE, TSX: MGL) received shareholder approval, rose marginally, while platinum miner Lonmin (LSE: LMI) posted insignificant losses.
Silver miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) was in the lead with a gain of 1.7%. Specialty chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT) added 1.5%.
In the FTSE 250, gold producer Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) rose marginally, while silver miner Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) added 2.2%. However, Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) moved in a different direction, shedding 1.8%.
Brazil focused gold miner Horizonte Minerals (AIM: HZM) led the juniors with a 25% hike. UK-registered China operating copper and gold miner Central China Goldfields (AIM: GGG) and Canada based junior gold developer Rambler Metals and Mining Plc (AIM: RMM) followed, rallying 15%. Philippines focused mining junior Metals Exploration (AIM: MML) also did well, climbing 10%.
Copper and gold miner EMED Mining (AIM: EMED) and Philippines focused gold producer Medusa Mining (AIM&ASX: MML) also were in buying mode with both adding 5%.
Africa focused gold miner Pan African Resources (AIM: PAF) and Tajikistan operating gold miner Kryso Resources (AIM: KYS) moved up 3%.
Nickel and platinum focused Australia and South Africa operating miner Braemore Resources (AIM: BRR) was among the leading decliners, dipping 17.5%.
Commodity asset development company Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR) and Kazakhstan operating gold producer and copper developer Frontier Mining (AIM: FML) both lost more than 7%. Turkey focused gold miner Ariana Resources (AIM: AAU) was down 6%.
Lesotho operating diamond miner Kopane Diamond Developments (AIM: KDD), South American based explorer Mariana Resources (AIM: MARL) and Australian gold and copper prospector Solomon Gold (AIM: SOLG) all declined 5%.
Africa operating gold and platinum miner Goldplat (AIM: GDP) and African focused nickel and gold exploration and development junior Nyota Minerals (AIM & ASX: NYO) both shed more than 4%.
Argentina focused gold explorer Patagonia Gold (AIM: PGD) moved down 3%.
Copper and Nickel rise to boost mining stocks
Base metals focsed stocks were up as prices inched higher. Copper rose to US$2.84/pound, while Nickel fluctuated aroud US$8.50/pound. Zinc reached US$94/pound.
Indian miner Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) was in the lead with a 2.5% climb. Xstrata (LSE: XTA) and Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) followed with gains of almost 2%. Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) and Anglo American (LSE: AAL) both added more than 1.5%.
Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) tacked on 1.3%, while the world’s largest miner BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT) rose marginally.
London's only listed pure iron ore producer and FTSE 250 constituent, Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) moved with the market, climbing 1.5%.
Tunisia focused metal miner Maghreb Minerals (AIM: MMS) and specialty minerals exploration and development company Thor Mining (AIM: THR) were in the lead, rallying 20% and 15% respectively.
Uranium and copper explorer Kalahari Minerals (AIM: KAH) added 2.6%.
Tantalum concentrate supplier with assets in Mozambique Noventa (AIM: NVTA) was in decline, shedding 13%.
Banks, insurance, private equity
Banking stocks were mixed following as relatively strong start. Barclays (LSE: BARC), which is reportedly set to dispose of £4 billion worth of toxic assets, declined 1.3%. Lloyds (LSE: LLOY), which is considering a multibillion cash call to avoid participation in the government’s asset protection scheme, slid 2%. Fellow bailed out bank Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) posted marginal declines.
HSBC (LSE: HSBA) rose insignificantly, while Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) added 2.2%.
Insurer Old Mutual (LSE: OML) led the sector and the blue chip index with a 4.2% climb. Standard Life (LSE: SL) followed with a gain of almost 3%, while Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) was up 1.8%.
Prudential (LSE: PRU) tacked on 1%, as did RSA Insurance Group (LSE: RSA). Friends Provident (LSE: FP) and Aviva (LSE: AV) rose marginally.
Private equity group 3i (LSE: III) moved up 1%.
Large and Mid Cap News
Carillion (LSE: CLLN) announced it has agreed the sale of Enviros, its environmental consultancy for £27m. The support services firm will sell the Enviros group in a cash deal with Sinclair Knight Merz.
Diversified miner, Xstrata (LSE: XTA), announced that entered into a formal sale agreement with Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE & TSX: ABX) for its 70% interest in El Morro copper-gold project for a total cash consideration of $465m (USD).
Moto Goldmines (AIM: MOE, TSX: MGL) announced that its shareholders had approved the proposed takeover of the company by Randgold Resources (LSE: RSS) at a special meeting of shareholders on the 7th October. Following the shareholder approval the sale of the company looks set to completed. Randgold Resources takeover bid values Moto at approximately $500m (USD).
Performance management specialist Avisen PLC (AIM: AVI) said Tesco PLC (LSE: TSCO), has selected Acorn System's Performance Analyzer - for which Avisen is the exclusive UK distributor - to enhance its financial reporting capability in Tesco Direct.
Small Cap News
Europe focused oil and gas developer Ascent Resources (AIM: AST) increased the limit of its facility with GEM Global Yield Fund Limited (GEM) from £5 million to £10 million and drew down a further £1.4 million from its line of credit by issuing 20,000,000 new shares to GM.
Biocompatibles International PLC (LSE: BII) reported that three institutional advised the group that they have increased their respective holdings in it.
Tools and equipment for hire provider Speedy Hire (AIM: SDY) reported a below expectations H1 turnover decline of 29% and said it was not expecting revenues to pick up in September/October following a slow start to the second half, causing its shares to dip 13%.
Kalahari Minerals PLC (AIM: KAH) said it has increased its holding in Extract Resources Ltd (TSX, ASX: EXT) which controls the Husab project in Namibia and its Rossing South uranium deposit, to 96,998,865 Extract shares, or 40.88 percent of the total issued share capital.
Broker Fox-Davies Capital (FD Capital) left both its “buy” recommendation and target price of 175 pence for Gulf Keystone Petroleum (AIM: GKP) after the Iraq and Algeria operating oil and gas junior announced a draw down of £4.5 million from its £30 million facility with YA Global Master SPV to bring the total amount of drawn down funds to £6.9 million.
Shares in C H Bailey (AIM: BLEY) were in demand this morning after the industrial holdings company announced the sale of the majority of its Maltese assets to Vic Bon Limited for £29 million, causing its stock to soar 80%.
Sinclair Pharma PLC (LSE: SPH) announced the acquisition of two major revenue-generating dermatology products from Belgian group Solvay Pharmaceuticals for €17.5 million, to be financed by a fundraising of up to £25 million, and the appointment of Christopher Spooner as new chief executive, to replace Michael Flynn who will retire at the AGM.
ITV plc (LSE: ITV) announced that its current Chief Operating Officer (‘COO’), John Cresswell will assume the role of Interim Chief Executive to lead the company through to the appointment and arrival of the next Chief Executive.
European based copper and gold explorer EMED Mining (AIM: EMED) announced the results of the scoping study of its wholly owned Biely Vrch gold mine in Slovakia, saying the development of a ten-year 3 million tones per annum mining operation producing 60,000 ounces of gold was economically attractive based on the current gold prices, cost estimates and the project’s technical parameters.
London Mining (OSX: LOND, XETRA: L9K) said today it has appointed Liberium Capital Limited as its proposed nominated adviser and joint broker and GMP Securities as joint broker as part of the planned listing on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange announced back in July, and said it was fully funded to reach key development milestones of its assets.
The TEG Group (AIM: TEG) announced that it has signed a ‘Heads of Terms’ for a proposed collaboration agreement with privately owned Anagest Limited to develop a co-located anaerobic digestion and in-vessel composting facility.
Provexis plc (LSE: PXS) announced an update on their Fruitflow® human trial which aims to compare the effects of Fruitflow® and a conventional pharmaceutical aspirin treatment. Investors have welcomed this latest update on the products development, shares rose approximately 6% on London’s AIM market this morning.