Johnson Matthey, down 0.7%, had Deutsche Bank reissue their “Buy” rating while Numis Securities reiterated their “Add” rating on the stock, with a target price of 3754p. Beaufort Securities reissued its “Buy” rating on DS Smith, up 2.2%.
Shore Capital reaffirmed its “Buy” rating on Greene King, up 3.1%. JP Morgan Chase & Co reiterated its “Neutral” rating on Abcam, down 0.1%, with a target price of 678p. Beaufort Securities reissued its “Buy” rating on Kier Group, up 0.4%.
Peel Hunt reconfirmed its “Add” rating on Bango, up 23.7%, with a target price of 100p. Royal Bank of Canada initiated its “Outperform” rating on Horizon Discovery Group, up 14.6%, with a target price of 210p. Numis Securities reaffirmed its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 260p. .
RhythmOne, up 1.3%, announced that it has appointed Mr. Richard O'Connor as the Chief Financial Officer in place of Ed Reginelli, who has stepped down from his post but will be available for up to six months to ensure smooth transition. N+1 Singer raised its target price on the stock to 65p from 56p while maintaining their “Buy” rating on the stock.
Sphere Medical Holding, down 2.7%, announced that Silicon Valley Bank has provided a £3m loan facility which is repayable until March 2020. Under the terms, the company has drawn an initial amount of £1.5m immediately and an additional £1.5m will be conditionally available until March 2018. Panmure Gordon reaffirmed its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 17p. Canaccord Genuity restated its “Buy” rating on Vernalis, down 2.9%, with a target price of 88p.
UK markets finished in the positive territory last week, after data showed that the construction sector grew at its fastest pace in nine months in December. The nation’s Markit services PMI posted a 17-month high in December along with an unexpected rise in Markit manufacturing PMI to a two-year high. The FTSE 100 index rose 0.9% to finish at 7,210.1, while the FTSE AIM 100 index advanced 1.9% to close at 4,148. The FTSE techMARK 100 index added 0.7% to end at 4,374.1.
US markets closed firmer in the prior week, led by positive data on the ISM manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs for December. However, the Federal Reserve’s minutes from its December meeting suggested the possibility of interest rate hikes in the New Year and the nation added less than expected jobs in December. The DJIA index climbed 1% to settle at 19,963.8 and the NASDAQ index rose 2.6% to end at 5,521.1.
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