Despite a downgrade by JP Morgan Cazenove, Johnson Matthey gained 1.5%, aided by a rise in platinum prices. DS Smith, up 10.8%, announced that trading was in line with expectations and that the outlook for the rest of the year remains positive.
Shares in Greene King rose 7.0% after it revealed that like-for-like sales advanced 5.1% for the 18 weeks ended 2 September. However, shares in ARM Holdings fell 4.7%, as Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to “Sell” from “Hold” and cut its target price from 465p to 400p, citing decreasing royalty payments received on licensing agreements, caused by falling smartphone chip prices.
Blinkx gained 19.0% and emerged as the top gainer in the Cambridge Index. Other prominent gainers were Sagentia Group and Vernalis, up 5.5% and 10.6%, respectively. Abcam gained 3.6% after announcing that its full year revenues climbed 17.5% to £97.8m and profit after tax reached £25.4m, compared to £23.8m last year. The board proposed an increased final dividend of 4.36p, up 14.7% from 3.8p in the previous year.
Dialight announced that the current Chairman, Harry Tee, will formally step down from the board on 12 September. He will be replaced by senior independent director and Chairman of the remuneration committee, Bill Ronald.
Brady, up 1.6%, announced a contract win from the Swiss based commodity trading company Transamine. Ubisense Group, up 1.7%, announced that its first half revenues stood at £12m, up 6.2%, while operating loss widened to £0.8m from £0.1m recorded in the same period a year ago. Sepura announced that its CEO, Gordon Watling, has acquired 29,274 ordinary shares at an exercise price of 31p per share.
Elektron Technology, down 1.3%, announced that its precision instrumentation brand, Queensgate Instruments, has launched a new range of microscopy products that will facilitate faster responses and higher throughput than current industry standards.
In the UK, the FTSE 100 index closed 1.5% higher, at 5,794.8, led by gains in miners amid news of increased infrastructure spending by China. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index added 1.5% to 2,409.8, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index rallied 3.5% to 3,175.5.
US markets ended higher last week, as investors speculated that the Federal Reserve would act to stimulate the economy after nonfarm payrolls missed market estimates. The Dow Jones Index gained 1.6% to 13,306.6, while the Nasdaq Index rose 2.3% to 3,136.4.
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