Greene King climbed 5.5% during the week as the company had its “Buy” rating reiterated by Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank also rated ARM Holdings as a “Buy”, triggering a 2.7% rise in the share price. DS Smith rose by 3.2%, despite a downgrade to “Hold” by Goodbody, as Citigroup retained its “Buy” rating on the stock. On the downside, Johnson Matthey fell 3% as Numis Securities advised investors to “Hold” the stock, while Deutsche Bank recommended the stock as a “Buy”. AVEVA Group, down 2.1%, announced that Hans van der Drift, a “Person Discharging Managerial Responsibilities” (PDMR) has sold 3,300 shares in the company at £23.07 per share.
Vernalis climbed 22.3% after announcing successful completion of the Pivotal Single Dose comparative bioavailability study for CCP-01. Netcall, up 10.5%, announced that it has achieved accreditation as a PCI DSS Level 1 Service Provider for its cloud based payments solution. Abcam rose 2.6% as the company awarded a number of ordinary shares to Executive Directors, Jonathan Milner, Jim Warwick and Jeff Iliffe, under its Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP).
Ubisense Group rose by 3%, as it announced the signing of an exclusive strategic partnership agreement with one of the leading automotive logistics companies in Asia, to work together to deploy integrated automotive logistics solutions
Elektron Technology fell 9.5%, despite proposing a 15% increase in its full-year dividend to 3.45p. Amino Technologies, down 6%, forecasted that it would deliver profits and a period end net cash balance in line with market expectations. Cambridge Cognition Holdings, down 5.3%, forecasted lower 2013 revenue, reflecting challenging market conditions for its pharmaceutical business, and delays in the full commercial roll out for the CANTABmobile medical device. Sepura, down 0.8%, noted that Non-Executive Director, Gordon Stuart, has acquired 15,000 shares in the company at 126.9p per share.
The FTSE 100 index fell 0.4%, to 6,650.6, after the Bank of England refocused its ‘Funding for Lending Scheme’ from mortgage lending to business lending for small firms. However, losses were capped after UK third-quarter GDP increased 1.5%, boosting optimism that the nation’s economy is making a strong recovery. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index rose 2%, to 3,049, and the FTSE AIM 100 Index advanced 1.1%, to 3,757.1.
US markets closed higher during the shortened holiday week, amid a better outlook for US labour markets, and after data showed an improvement in the nation’s consumer sentiment index in November. The DJIA rose 0.1, to close at 16,086.4, and the NASDAQ added 1.7%, to settle at 4,059.9.
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