Syria crisis continues to increase market volatility

Expect an afternoon of volatility in the US markets with President Obama making a final push to obtain domestic support for an attack on Syria from congress.  After meeting with UK foreign secretary William Hague, Secretary of State Kerry has stated that should Syria escape repercussions for its use of chemical weapons it would set a dangerous precedent for other tyrannical regimes.

Despite the UK watching the Syria affair from the side-lines after the prime minister failed to secure parliamentary support for action, fallout from this vote will still be felt in the UK markets with oil price and a potential flight to quality affecting both equity and Gilts.

Gold has walked a tightrope between gains and further losses today as investors try to interpret signs that the Federal Reserve will start to reduce its monthly bond purchases at its meeting beginning on the 17^th September.  Gold down 17% this year has rallied since June with the uncertainty of military action against Syria looming.

In the UK Chancellor Osborne made a speech addressing the state of the UK economy and appeared cautiously optimistic about the current progress and direction on the UK’s recovery.  Despite stressing that it was still in the ‘early stages’ investors are forecasting GDP rising from 0.7% growth in the second quarter to 1% as early as quarter three.

CSR, up 5%

CSR upgraded to buy from hold at Liberum Capital who also upgrade their price target to 550p from 540p after a recent pullback in the share price. They state CSR is now trading at a discount to its peer group and expects CSR to meet consensus expectations for 2H ’13.

African Mining & Exploration, up 26%

The gold explorer have announced that they will acquire an 80% interest in Matilda Minerals Limitada, which operates a mineral sands project in Mozambique, for an initial payment of A$525,000 in cash and shares.

Telit Communications, up 8%

The global machine-to-machine communications firm reports a more than double pre-tax profit for the first half of 2013 due to growth in the number of units shipped. They have started the second half strongly and is confident of meeting expectations for the full year.

SpaceandPeople, up 5.4%

SpaceandPeople post higher profit for the half year mainly due to growth in German businesses. They booked a first-half pre-tax profit of £0.6 million, up 60% year on year. Gross revenues were up 46 to £18.2 million.

Gulf Keystone, up 3.3%

Gulf Keystone have requested that its shares be suspended from trading tomorrow morning until later in the day once the company updates investors on the outcome of the court hearing. A ruling is expected tomorrow in a long-running legal spat involving a claim by Excalibur Ventures on Gulf Keystone Petroleum’s acreage in Iraqi Kurdistan.

BG Group, down 5%

Energy giant BG Group have announcing project delays would hit 2014 oil output. BG’s shares fell the most in 10 months after project delays in Egypt and Norway will curb oil output next year with projects in Egypt affected by political turmoil.

Tate & Lyle, down 2.4%

UBS downgrades Tate & Lyle to sell from neutral and cuts its price target to 770p from 890p. Says the stock's current valuation is too high and does not adequately reflect the risk that sucralose prices continue to decline as generic competitors improve product quality and access greater scale, says UBS.

Associated British Foods, down 2%

Ingredients maker and Primark fashion retailer Associated British Foods PLC said Monday that adjusted operating profit for the second half will be ahead of expectations delivered by a strong finish to the year from Primark. Despite the positivity, shares lag, down nearly 2 percent

Brady PLC, down 15%

The provider of trading and risk management solutions for metals, recycling, energy and soft commodities, posted a narrowed loss for the first half of 2013 and said it has a strong pipeline and advanced talks for several significant new license deals. For the first half, adjusted loss before taxation was 0.1 million pounds, compared to a profit before taxation of 0.8 million pounds a year ago.

Avesco, down 9%