Cambridge Index rises 0.2%

The Cambridge Index rose 0.2% or 26.9 points, to end at 16,700.0, as gains in index heavyweights ARM Holdings, DS Smith and Greene King more than offset losses in Johnson Matthey and AVEVA Group.

ARM Holdings rose 0.9% during the week while Greene King added 1.1%. DS Smith, up 1.6%, confirmed the appointment of Adrian Marsh as Group Finance Director. Meanwhile, Johnson Matthey fell 2.3%, even as Galvan Research and Deutsche Bank, both reiterated the stock as “Buy”. AVEVA Group  slipped by 1.5%.

Abcam rose 3.9% and emerged as the top gainer in the Cambridge Index. Vernalis, up 2.6%, announced the appointment of Oriel Securities as its nominated adviser and broker. LPA Group, up 1.5%, won  ‘Exclusive Preferred Bidder’ status by Hitachi Rail Europe for a £5m order to supply LED Lighting for Hitachi Class 800 series trains.

Meanwhile, shares in Netcall ended flat despite the company announcing that its full-year revenue and pre-tax profit increased 10% to £16.1m and £2.26m, respectively. The company also proposed a 40% hike in its full-year dividend to 0.7p.

Sagentia Group also closed unchanged at 142.5p. The company announced the development of a medically regulated iPhone app for the Senseonics Glucose Monitoring System. Sareum Holdings, flat at 1.0p, entered into a co-development agreement with the Cancer Research Technology Pioneer Fund and BACIT, to advance the Checkpoint Kinase 1 inhibitor candidate through pre-clinical development and Phase 1 clinical trials.

Cyan Holdings declined 18.0% and emerged as the top faller in the Cambridge Index. The company announced that its Chairman, John Cronin, has participated in a Round Table discussion with the Minister of State for Power in India, wherein he highlighted Cyan’s progress to date in that country. Phytopharm fell 11.7% as the company announced that it has agreed to a reverse takeover proposal of Ixico for £5.6m. 1Spatial, down 1.3%, announced that its half-year revenue increased 18.8% to £7.6m and loss before tax narrowed to £0.4m.

Brady, down 1.6%, revealed its selection by Standard Chartered Bank to manage trading and risk management requirements for all of its LME traded base metals. CSR, down 0.3%, announced that Garmin has selected its COACH14 Digital Video Processor for its first all action stunt-capturing cameras. Ubisense Group fell 2.3%. The company announced that it has been selected by ISR Transit for a minimum $1m contract.

In the UK, the FTSE 100 index fell 1.3%, to 6,512.7, after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney told a UK newspaper that he foresaw no need for additional stimulus measures to boost the nation’s economic growth. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index lost 0.2%, to 2,993.3, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index rose 0.1%, to 3,646.4.

US markets mostly fell during the week, amid escalating concerns that the US government would cease to function if policymakers failed to reach a consensus to fund the US budget and to increase the nation's debt-ceiling. The DJIA index slid 1.2%, to close at 15,258.2 and the NASDAQ index rose 0.2%, to settle at 3,781.6.



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