Shares of ARM Holdings increased 6.7%. The company announced that STMicroelectronics, a leading global chipmaker, has joined ARM’s ‘mbed’ project, enabling the developers (using ST’s STM32 microcontroller range) free access to the ‘mbed’ software, development tools and online collaboration platform.
Deutsche Bank retained both its “Buy” rating and the target price of 3,650p on the shares of Johnson Matthey, up 1.6%, while Davy Research reiterated its “Underperform” rating on DS Smith, up 2%.
Frontier Developments soared 18.7% to 152.5p, after announcing that Elite: Dangerous Alpha 1.1 has been released. CSR, up 6.6%, announced the launch of a new low-cost development kit, priced at $99 and based on its ‘uEnergy’ platform. Blinkx, up 0.4%, announced a partnership deal with REV New Media, an independent producer of online video content, to launch two new channels.
Ubisense Group, up 3.7%, announced that it has signed an extension order valued at €4.5m from a large European telecoms network operator to design and plan networks. The company noted that, following this order, the client’s total cumulative orders received this year increased to €6.5m.
Elektron Technology advanced 5.6%. The company, in its third-quarter trading update, announced that it has progressed well during the period. Elektron added that it has returned to an operating profit for the third-quarter (H1 £0.1m loss) and revealed that its pre-tax loss was smaller than the losses incurred in each of the first and second quarters of the current financial year (H1: £2.4m loss).
Cyan Holdings gained 5.6%. The company announced that it has completed the placing of 7.3 million shares at 0.15p each.
Scientific Digital Imaging (SDI) fell 22.9%. The company’s half year revenue fell 5.6% to £3.5m from £3.7m while its pre-tax loss stood at £70,000, compared to a pre-tax profit of £12,000 recorded in the same period previous year. The company also successfully raised £0.85m through equity placement to enable repayment of a loan and reinvestment in the business. Further, the company announced an international launch of ‘ProReveal’. SDI noted that it anticipates that the new products released during this half of its year, together with on-going cost efficiencies, would result in an improvement in margins and profitability which would be reflected in the second-half of this financial year.
In the UK, the FTSE 100 index climbed 2.6%, to 6,606.6, as investors digested the Fed’s announcement of tapering and following mostly encouraging economic data out of Europe and the US. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index rose 3%, to 3,135.9, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index edged up 0.1%, to 3,754.8.
US markets closed higher during the week, as traders took the Fed’s stimulus cut in their stride, with the DJIA clocking its biggest gain in three months. The central bank’s decision to reiterate its forward guidance of low interest rates also spurred investors to increase their exposure to risky assets. The DJIA rallied 3%, to close at 16,221.1, and the NASDAQ perked up 2.6%, to settle at 4,104.7.
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