Overview: after chipmaker Intel’s (NYSE: INTC) Q3 results turned out to be ahead of market expectations, financial services firm JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) also beat analysts’ forecasts with quarterly profits of US$3.59 billion compared to US$527 million a year ago, further fuelling the positive drive in the markets sparked by Intel’s impressive results and upbeat outlook for the rest of the year.
The Dow Jones industrial average was off to a fast start, climbing 1.1% in early trade.
The FTSE 100 rallied 2% to recapture the 5,200 point mark, also helped by a better than expected UK jobless update, which showed little change in the unemployment rate in the three months to August from the previous quarter.
Both oil & gas and mining sectors were bullish due to the increases in oil and metals prices. Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) made its way to the top of the leaderboard with a 10% rally after signing a farm-out agreement with Petronas for its offshore blocks in Greenland.
Base metals focused miners followed with Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ), Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED), Xstrata (LSE: XTA), Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) and Anglo American (LSE: AAL) following with gains of 5-9%.
Fashion house Burberry (LSE: BRBY) also did well with a 5.5% gain after making profits of £343 million, which surpassed market expectations.
Power generation company International Power (LSE: IPR) was the leading faller with a 3.2% decline following the sale of its stake in the Hartwell plant to Oglethorpe for US$148.5 million. Tour operator Thomas Cook (LSE: TCG) and beverage group Diageo (LSE: DGE) followed with losses of 2.5% and 1.9% respectively.
Commodities
Oil prices rose today with November Brent Crude improving to US$73.18/barrel, while US light, sweet crude for November delivery eclipsed US$75/barrel.
Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) led the sector with a 6.8% rally after agreeing to sell a 10% interest in its existing 6 operating blocks offshore Greenland. Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) followed with a 3% gain.
Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) both added more than 2%. Other FTSE 100 constituents Petrofac (LSE: PFC) and BG Group (LSE: BG) both climbed 2.7%.
Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) led the midcaps with a 2.7% advance, while Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) and Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) added 1.1% and 1.6% respectively.
Mongolia-focused Petro Matad Ltd (AIM: MATD) was in the lead among the juniors, rising 6.2%. Eastern Europe focused junior Aurelian Oil & Gas (AIM: AUL) followed, adding 5.8%. North American based explorer Nighthawk Energy (AIM: HAWK) and Europe focused oil and gas developer Ascent Resources (AIM: AST) both improved about 3.5%.
Iraq operating Irish oil company Petrel Resources (AIM: PET) added almost 3%.
US focused junior Empyrean Energy (AIM: EME) and Peru, Colombia and Cuba operating oil and gas explorer and producer Gold Oil (LSE: GOO) both climbed 6%.
Atlantic Canada operating oil and gas group Enegi Oil (AIM: ENEG) tacked on 4%.
Precious metals
Gold fluctuated around the US$1,060/oz mark today, while Silver retreated to US$17.82/oz after reaching US$18. Platinum slid to US$1,355/oz.
Platinum producer Lonmin (LSE: LMI) was the leading riser in the sector with a 5.6% climb. Silver miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) and gold producer Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) both added 1.8%.
Specialty chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT) rallied 4.7%.
In the FTSE 250, gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) surged 6%, while silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) and Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) were up 3.2% and 2.5% respectively.
Australian gold and copper prospector Solomon Gold (AIM: SOLG) and Fiji focused Vatukoula Gold Mines (AIM: VGM) led the juniors, rallying 9% and 7% respectively. Turkey and Saudi Arabia operating gold explorer KEFI Minerals (AIM: KEF) climbed 5%.
Africa focused gold miner Pan African Resources (AIM: PAF) added 3%.
Africa operating gold miner GMA Resources (AIM: GMA) was among the leading fallers in the sector, sliding 5.6%. Brazil focused gold miner Horizonte Minerals (AIM: HZM) and Tajikistan operating gold miner Kryso Resources (AIM: KYS) lost 4% and 3% respectively.
Base metals
Base metals were headed in different directions today with Copper improving to US$2.8/pound, while Nickel declined further, dropping to US$8.20/pound. Zinc moved down to US$0.91/pound.
Copper miner Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) emerged as the leading riser in the sector with an 8% rally. Indian miner Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) followed with a 6% climb. Xstrata (LSE: XTA) added 5.6%, while Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) and Anglo American (LSE: AAL) both added more than 4.5%
The world’s largest miner BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT) and Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) climbed almost 4%.
London's only listed pure iron ore producer and FTSE 250 constituent, Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) moved with the market, rising 3%.
Tantalum concentrate supplier with assets in Mozambique Noventa (AIM: NVTA), which has raised £2.12 million through a placing, was the leading riser in the sector with a 71% rally. Tunisia focused metal miner Maghreb Minerals (AIM: MMS) surged 13%.
Laterite nickel specialist European Nickel (AIM: ENK) rose 7%, while cement operator Prosperity Mineral Holdings (AIM: PMHL) rose 3%.
South American focused junior miner Herencia Resources (AIM: HER) went against the tide, slipping 4%.
Banks, insurance, private equity
All major financial stocks were in the black on Wednesday. Barclays (LSE: BARC) was in the lead with a 5% gain to recover from yesterday’s fall caused by Meredith Whitney’s downgrade of Goldman Sachs to “neutral.” Bailed out banks Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) declined 4.4% and 3.3% respectively.
Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) added 1.4%.
Insurers gave most of their early gains away over the source of the day. Standard Life (LSE: SL), Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) all Aviva (LSE: AV) rose marginally, while RSA Insurance Group (LSE: RSA) finished just below the opening level. Prudential (LSE: PRU) managed to tack on 1.2%, while Old Mutual (LSE: OML) gained almost 2%.
Private equity group 3i (LSE: III) rose 2%.
Other notable movers among the small caps included Zimbabwe-focused investment company LonZim (AIM: LZM), which rallied 12%. Latin America operating power producer Rurelec (AIM: RUR) climbed 8%.
Large and Mid Cap News
Mexico’s largest silver miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) reported a new company record level of silver production in the quarter. Today’s quarterly production report revealed that Central American operating precious metals miner silver produced to 9.7m ounces, which represents a 9.3% increase from Q3 2008.
Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) announced it has made an Oil & Gas discovery at the Tornado prospect, offshore West of Shetland, UK. The thickness and quality of the reservoir is in line with pre-drill prognosis.
Services, maintenance and building group and FTSE 250 constituent Interserve (AIM: IRV) has secured two deals from Sandwell College and Ducab HV worth a total £117 million.
BAE Systems (LSE: BA.) issued its Interim Management Statement for the third quarter, stating that trading has been consistent with management's expectations. BAE continues to anticipate a year of ‘good growth’ for 2009 as a whole despite a lower volume of land vehicle sales than in 2008.
Dragon Oil PLC (LSE: DGO) said the Dzheitune (Lam) 28/137 and 13/138 wells in the Kaspian Sea offshore Turkmenistan have been completed and successfully tested, in line with the schedule.
International luxury company and Designer clothing brand the Burberry Group plc (LSE: BRBY) released an update on its trading performance for the first half. Across the Group total sales in the first half declined by 5%, Retail sales increased by 14%, while wholesale revenue declined by 23%.
Small Cap News
Cairn Energy PLC (LSE: CNE) said it entered into binding Heads of Terms with the overseas arm of Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) that will give the Malaysian state oil company an interest in Cairn Energy’s existing six operated blocks offshore Greenland and a bigger stake in Cairn India, with a total to pay of US$310 million.
Shares in Mwana Africa PLC (AIM: MWA) rose after the group announced the first pour of gold following completion of Phase 1 of its refurbishment programme at the Freda Rebecca gold mine in Zimbabwe. The news lifted Mwana 8.3 percent in late morning deals.
This morning Mano River Resources announced the completion of its merger with African Aura Resources. As a result Mano River has been re-submitted to the AIM market under its new name African Aura Mining (AIM: AAAM, TSX-V: AUR)
Phytopharm (LSE: PYM) today announced the successful completion of two key studies into the effect of its propriety treatment for Parkinson’s disease. The study data strongly supported the continued development of Cogane™ as a potentially disease-modifying therapy for Parkinson’s disease. Investors have got behind Phytopharm in droves following the announcement as the stock has surged over 230% this morning.
Shares in Meridian Petroleum PLC (AIM: MRP) were lifted by news that the work programme at the East Lake Verret gas and oil field in Lousiana, US, was successfully completed, and that all wells are now back on-stream ahead of schedule.
Broker Libertas Partners LLP was upbeat on Frontier Mining (AIM: FML) after the Kazakhstan operating gold and copper miner released “encouraging” interim results at the end of last month, reporting progress with evaluation of its flagship Benkala project, a total financing of US$14 million and a post-period revenue of US$1.57 million generated from the first sales of gold and silver from its Naimanjal project in Kazakhstan.
Broker Fox-Davies Capital (FD Capital) reiterated its bullish stance on Lydian International (TSX: LYD) after the Armenia operating gold miner released the results from its step-out drilling programme at the Amulsar gold discovery in Armenia, which it said was a success as new gold and additional areas for exploratory and infill drilling were identified, extending the initial inferred resource of 1 million ounces.
Noventa Ltd (AIM: NVTA), the tantalum junior with assets in Mozambique, said it raised a total of £2.12 million through the placing and open offer of 53.059 million new ordinary shares. The news propelled the stock to rise more than 21 percent in early London trade.