Reflecting demand in a thin market, LPA Group surged 16.9% and emerged as the top gainer in the Index. Johnson Matthey rose 4.6%, tracking the rise in platinum prices caused by a strike at Lonmin’s African plant.
Positive broker reviews led the shares of ARM Holdings and Greene King to climb 1.5% and 0.5% respectively. ARM announced that it has signed a multi-year agreement to jointly deliver optimised “system-on-chip” solutions for ARM processor designs, on GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ 20-nanometer and FinFET process technologies. Other noticeable gainers included DS Smith, Kier Group and Blinkx, all up between 3.7% and 16.3%.
CSR, up 0.7%, introduced a novel product to deliver continuous, highly accurate location awareness to the latest generation of mobile devices. HiWave Technologies, up 1.2%, forecasted that its full year sales would be broadly in line with its expectations. The company also announced a contract win and the appointment of David McIntosh and Graham Searle as Non Executive Directors, along with David Calderwood as Executive Chairman.
A number of shares in the Cambridge Index trod water during the week. Xaar, down a marginal 0.2%, announced that its first half revenues rose to £37.9m from £31.6m, while profit after tax stood at £3.6m, up from £3m recorded earlier.
Aveva Group remained unchanged, despite Jefferies International retaining its “Buy” rating on the stock and increasing the target price to £23 from £18. Brady, also unchanged at 92p, is set to announce its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2012 on 17 September. Phytopharm, announced that its financial performance for the period between 1 April 2012 and 16 August 2012 had been as anticipated, adding that based on its current expectations, the company is well financed to the end of next year.
In the UK, the FTSE 100 index closed 0.1% higher, at 5,852.4, following better-than-expected UK consumer prices, retail sales and employment data, and as concerns over Eurozone debt crisis eased slightly after German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, reiterated her government’s support for the debt laden Eurozone nations. However, gains were muted after the Bank of England indicated that its policymakers unanimously decided to retain quantitative easing at £375 billion. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index gained 1.4% to 2,401.2, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index dropped 1.5% to 3,076.1.
US markets ended higher last week, as upbeat retail sales, industrial production and consumer sentiment data offset dismal consumer prices and jobless claims. Gains in stocks were supported by continuing hopes that the US Federal Reserve would provide more monetary stimulus to boost the economy. The Dow Jones Index added 0.5% to 13,275.2, while the Nasdaq Index rose 1.8% to 3,076.6.
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Cambridge Index gains 2.0%
21 August 2012
Global equity markets managed to overcome Eurozone debt fears, following encouraging economic data and as Germany indicated support for the European Central Bank’s bond-buying plan. The Cambridge Index gained 2.0% or 222.1 points to 11,115.9, with eight of the top ten index heavyweight stocks ending ahead.