European shares retreat

On the other side of the world, US stock futures signalled a higher open with the S&P climbing for a fifth time in six days. US investors remain confident that lawmakers will reach a deal before tomorrow’s deadline. The gains come despite Fitch placing the US’s AAA credit grade on negative watch, citing the increased risk of a US default.

Earlier figures this morning showed that the number of people in Britain claiming jobless benefits had its biggest fall in more than 16 years. However, despite the claim figure beating estimates, the jobless rate remained steady. 

Risers:

IMI PLC, +2.27%

Topping the list of FTSE 100 risers, Shares in IMI have surged after  the international engineering company agreed to sell its beverage dispenser and merchandising businesses to Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Marmon Group for about $1.1 billion in cash to focus on industrial valves and fluid control systems. Additionally, IMI have confirmed that Q3 results were in line with market expectations.

Randgold Resources, +1.66%

Equities researchers at Nomura hoisted their target price on shares of Randgold Resources Ltd from 4,370p to 4,600p in a research report issued today. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Nomura’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 4.55% from the stock’s previous close.

Hargreaves Lansdown, +2.21%

HARGREAVES Lansdown announced stellar quarterly results after benefiting from “an immense” influx of investor cash in the run-up to the Royal Mail flotation. The Bristol-based investment service made a net gain of 20,000 clients during the three months to 30 September, with net inflows more than doubling to £1.2bn. Although the company was boosted by demand for Royal Mail shares, the full scale of the rush to invest in the postal service will only be reflected in the next quarterly results update.

Amphion Innovations, +24%

Amphion Innovations shares have received a boost today with partner company, Kromek, enjoying its debut session on AIM. Kromek has raised £15m before expenses through the sale of new ordinary shares at a price of 51 pence per share in an oversubscribed fundraising. At admission, the company will have a total of 107,607,335 ordinary shares in issue. After the placing, Amphion holds an 11.6% equity stake in Kromek.

Thor Mining, +22.22%

Shares in Thor mining have jumped after confirmations that the company has been offered a concentrate off-take agreement from US company Tungsten & Powders Corp. The tungsten and molybdenum production company with operations in Australia said that, subject to due diligence and Thor securing necessary funding, the deal would see Global Tungsten & Powders taking an order of 70%-75% of Thor's annual production of scheelite concentrate from its Molyhill site.

Fallers:

Burberry Group, -2.32%

Falling the most amongst FTSE 100 constituents outside of the mining sector, investors in Burberry continue to rue the departure of highly rated former CEO Ahrendts. Consequently, analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald have lowered their price target on the stock from 1515p to 1500p.

Vedanta Resources, -2.1%

Shares in Vedanta Resources have plummeted amid an improved offer of up to $4bn for government stakes in Hindustan Zinc & Balco. Vedanta proposes to buy out the government’s 29.5% stake in Hindustan Zinc for $ 3.482 billion  and the 49 per cent in Balco for $ 487 million.

Edinburgh Investment Trust, -3.23%

Shares in Neil Woodford’s Edinburgh investment trust have continued to sell off after the shock news Woodford will be leaving Invesco Perpetual in April. Although Woodford is still in charge of the trust for now, with the board saying in a statement this afternoon that there is no immediate change, some investors have nonetheless opted to exit immediately. Woodford has run the trust since 2008 and outperformed the UK Growth & Income sector, delivering a share price return of 143% and NAV growth of 108.5% over the last five years versus the sector average gain of 95%.

Paragon Diamonds, -7.89%

Investors in Paragon Diamonds suffered a set-back this morning after the sale of sample stones in Antwerp failed to inspire. Although the company noted its samples were too small to give representative average prices for its in-situ resource, the company expected the average values and number of carats to increase as it moves towards production. The Lesotho focused diamond development and production company said it achieved an average value of USD358 per carat for the combined overall parcel of 221.2 carats.

Weatherly International, -6.45%

Weatherly shares have fallen during this morning’s session despite confirming that cash costs for the latest quarter were down.  Weatherly officials have declared that, Operationally the company made significant improvements and while they have not yet seen increased metal production they have achieved increased mined ore and a 13% reduction of unit cost.