Peel Hunt reiterated its “Buy” rating on DS Smith, up 6.5%.
Liberum Capital reconfirmed its “Buy” rating on Greene King, up 2.3%.
Peel Hunt restated its “Hold” rating on Abcam, down 1.4%.
Elektron Technology, up 36%, in its trading update for the third quarter ended 31 October 2018, announced that its total sales surged 16.5% to £9.9m, largely supported by its Bulgin’s sales revenue of £8.8m, while its year to date sales soared by 17% to £25.8m. Elektron’s net cash stood at approximately £8.5m as at 31 October 2018. Further, the company announced that it now anticipates full year results to be significantly higher than prior projections, as it upgraded outlook for all its three divisions – Bulgin, Checkit and Elektron Eye Technology. Moreover, Bulgin's net margin is anticipated to be in the region of 30% for the full year, which is substantially ahead of both previous expectations and last year.
Peel Hunt reissued its “Buy” rating on Kier Group, up 10.5%.
Peel Hunt reissued its “Buy” rating on Frontier Developments, down 0.5%.
LPA Group, down 2.3%, in its trading update for the year ended 30 September 2018, announced that it reported record sales for the period and expects full year results to be in line with market forecasts. Moreover, it disclosed that Lighting Systems has been awarded a £4m contract to upgrade the lighting on London's Central and Waterloo & City lines rolling stock.
Horizon Discovery Group, down 3%, announced that it has entered into a collaboration with Belgium-based Biocartis Group to develop a set of precisely defined cell line-derived reference standards to assist Biocartis’ Idylla microsatellite instability assay. Peel Hunt reissued its “Hold” rating on the stock.
UK markets ended in the green last week, lifted by gains in banking and energy sector stocks. On the data front, the UK net consumer credit rose in September, whereas the manufacturing PMI eased more than estimated in October. In major news, the Bank of England, in its October monetary policy meeting, kept its key interest rate and asset purchase programme unchanged, but signalled at faster interest rate hikes than current market expectations. The FTSE 100 index advanced 2.2% to settle at 7094.1, while the FTSE AIM 100 index rose 4.1% to close at 5277.0. Meanwhile, the FTSE techMARK 100 index gained 4.1% to end at 4399.1.
US markets ended higher in the previous week, amid upbeat corporate earnings report. In economic news, the US private sector employment climbed more than estimated in October, while the consumer confidence index rose to an 18-year high level in the same month. Additionally, the nation’s unemployment rate remained steady near its 49-year low in October. On the other hand, US ISM manufacturing PMI slid in October, whereas the nation’s personal income dropped to its lowest level since June 2017 in September. The DJIA index rose 2.4% to end at 25270.8, while the NASDAQ index gained 2.6% to close at 7356.9.