The markets don’t sleep during the festive period December 17, 2012 OVER the Christmas period, equity markets are often seen as offering slim pickings for spread bet and contract for difference traders. Granted, there’s the prospect of a Santa rally, but otherwise the FTSE-100 index tends to end up trading in tight ranges as volatility ebbs away. Underlying volumes are low, traders generally aren’t at their [...]
FTSE flat as Tullow Oil sinks December 11, 2012 The blue chip index was broadly flat in early trading this morning, as explorer Tullow Oil, which this morning said it was to acquire a Norwegian exploration company and dispose of its North Sea operations, dropped almost five per cent. Miners ENRC and Kazakhmys dropped 2.64 per cent and 1.86 per cent respectively on the [...]
ENRC plummets as it buys out Camrose from its Congo unit December 10, 2012 MINER Eurasian Natural Resources was the second-biggest blue-chip faller yesterday, falling 2.62 per cent, as it paid $550m (£343m) to tighten its control over its unit in the Congo. Kazakh ENRC said its subsidiary ENRC Congo had agreed to buy the 49.5 per cent of holding company Camrose Resources that it did not already own, [...]
FTSE 100 down on Italian uncertainty December 10, 2012 Concerns over the health of the Eurozone weighed on the blue chip index this morning, following Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti’s announcement that he intends to resign after the 2013 budget is approved. The FTSE 100 was trading 0.2 per cent down in early trading, led down by insurer Aviva and miner Eurasian Natural Resources, [...]
ENRC buys out Dan Gertler from Congo copper and cobalt mines December 9, 2012 MINING group ENRC has tightened its control over copper operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo with a $550m (£343m) cash deal that ends its links to controversial Israeli businessman Dan Gertler. ENRC – one of several foreign-owned, London-listed miners to come under fire over governance and transparency – has been pushing to streamline its [...]
FTSE 100 boosted by Chinese manufacturing figures December 3, 2012 The FTSE was up in early trading as investors responded positively to Chinese manufacturing figures. Meanwhile the equivalent UK figures, released this morning, show that British manufacturing activity shrank much less than expected in November. Despite this, concerns over the US “fiscal cliff” – a combination of US government spending cuts and tax rises due [...]
Best of the Brokers November 19, 2012 AVEVA Panmure has cut its target price on the software group to 1838p from 1948p and kept its “hold” rating, after last week’s interim results caused the broker to trim its expectations slightly. BLINKX After last week’s strong interim results from the video streaming firm, Canaccord Genuity has a “buy” rating and target price of [...]
Don’t scare away signs of life in City flotations market November 15, 2012 After several nerve-wracking days’ delay, Alisher Usmanov’s telecoms group Megafon finally launched its London IPO yesterday, giving the moribund market a timely boost ahead of the naturally quiet festive season. Megafon’s flotation, which is expected to raise more than £1.5bn for the selling shareholders, will run just slightly ahead of the London and Almaty float [...]
Kazakhstan’s Kcell says City is a key IPO hub November 13, 2012 VEYSEL Aral, the chief executive of Kazakhstan’s largest mobile telephone operator, Kcell, said yesterday his group was planning a public listed offering in London because the UK capital had a “sophisticated investor base” and was a “key hub for emerging markets companies”. Kcell’s decision to list its shares here and in Kazakhstan is a boost [...]
ENRC pins hope on Congo as its revenue sinks November 8, 2012 REVENUE at Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) decreased sharply in the nine months to September, as it said it would prioritise copper projects in the Congo. ENRC, which is the world’s largest ferrochrome producer, said yesterday that it had completed its five-year spending review and intends to focus on five key projects, including a ferroalloys [...]