Cambridge Index eases 0.7%

The Cambridge Index declined 192.4 points or 0.7% to close at 26288.8, as Index heavyweights such as AVEVA Group and Abcam posted weekly losses to their share prices.

AVEVA Group, down 2.8%, announced that it has decided to postpone the release of its trading update to 25 July 2019, which coincides with Schneider Electric's results.

Peel Hunt restated its “Add” rating on Abcam, down 0.1%.

Barclays reiterated its “Overweight” rating on Greene King, up 0.4%, with a target price of 630p. Peel Hunt reconfirmed its “Buy” rating on the stock.

Xaar, up 8.5%, in its trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2019, announced that its performance is in line with the board’s anticipations and it expects to post revenue of around £23m.

Science Group, unchanged at 199p, announced a revised cash offer to acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Frontier Smart Technologies Group Limited (Frontier) at 35p per share. The revised offer needs the authorisation of a minimum 50% of Frontier’s shareholders. Moreover, Science Group has asked Panmure Gordon to acquire a minimum 10m Frontier shares at a price equal to the acquisition price, raising its stake to 53%, passing the takeover threshold.

Horizon Discovery Group, down 0.5%, announced that Celyad, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, received FDA Acceptance of Investigational New Drug (IND) application for the autologous NKG2D based CAR-T cell therapy CYAD-02 that uses Horizon's enhanced SMARTvector shRNA technology. Peel Hunt reaffirmed its “Hold” rating on the stock.

Bango, down 6.8%, announced that it has entered into a partnership agreement with appScatter Group with an aim to enhance in-app revenues for appScatter’s global community of app developers. Separately, Bango announced the appointment of FinnCap Limited as Nominated Adviser and Broker to the company with immediate effect.

Dialight, down 38.5%, in its trading update for the year ending 31 December 2019, announced that it anticipates underlying operating profit to be around £10m to £13m, due to impact of reduction in the order intake in H2 2019. Dialight highlighted that its Signals & Components business deteriorated, amid market uncertainty and high levels of inventory in the distribution channel. Also, it announced the appointment of current Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Fariyal Khanbabi, as interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO), after Martin Rapp agreed to step down from his role and leave the Board, with effect from 9 August 2019. Peel Hunt slashed its target price on the stock to 350p from 410p and gave a “Hold” rating.

UK markets closed mostly higher last week, supported by gains in financial and utilities sector stocks. Britain’s manufacturing sector activity unexpectedly eased to a 6-year low in June, whereas the construction PMI surprisingly declined to its lowest level since April 2009 in June. Moreover, the UK’s services sector activity unexpectedly fell in June. Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, signalled that the economy could lose its momentum in case of a no-deal Brexit and ongoing global trade disputes. The FTSE 100 index advanced 1.7% to settle at 7425.6, while the FTSE AIM 100 index fell 0.7% to close at 4733.3. The FTSE techMARK 100 index gained 1.1% to end at 5230.1.

US markets ended in positive territory in the previous week, amid gains in technology and consumer discretionary sector stocks. US non-farm payrolls rose more than expected in June, while the services PMI unexpectedly climbed in the same month. The US trade deficit widened to a 5-month high in May, whereas the nation’s unemployment rate surprisingly advanced in June. The DJIA index rose 1.2% to end at 26922.1, while the NASDAQ index gained 1.9% to close at 8161.8.

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