Shares of ARM Holdings, which were subjected to a spate of mixed broker reviews, fell 10.6% during the week. Goldman Sachs and Espirito Santo Execution Noble rated the stock as “Buy”, while Liberum Capital advised investors to “Sell” the stock. Among other brokers, Deutsche Bank, Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse and Exane BNP Paribas rated the stock as “Hold”, “Overweight”, “Outperform” and “Neutral”, respectively.
Investec rated DS Smith, up 0.2%, as “Buy”. Greene King, up 2.9%, was assigned a “Buy” rating by Deutsche Bank and an “Add” rating by Numis. AVEVA Group, up 7.5%, launched Aveva Bocad NC, a software product for steel fabricators that provides improved flexibility, management and control over numerical control deliverables.
Dialight fell 13.1% during the week after announcing that delays in deliveries of some orders from its US based customers may result in lower full-year profit while noting that its financial results for 2013 would be weighted towards the seasonally-strong fourth-quarter.
Blinkx, down 3.2%, announced awarding its Chief Executive Officer Subhransu Mukherjee and Chief Strategy Officer Suranga Chandratillake 50,000 and 16,666 ordinary shares, respectively, under its US Share Plan for Senior Executives.
Sepura fell 3.6%. The company noted that its Chief Executive Officer, Gordon Watling and Chief Financial Officer, Steve Chamberlain have acquired 349 and 213 ordinary shares, respectively, at a price of 138p, each, due to their participation in the company’s dividend reinvestment plan. Cambridge Cognition Holdings was flat at 48.5p. The company appointed Eric Dodd as a Non-Executive Director with immediate effect.
Among stocks that ended higher, Bango jumped 11.4%. Domino Printing Sciences, up 6.8% announced that it has conditionally awarded Directors, Nigel Bond and Andrew Herbert, 58,998 and 36,361 ordinary shares, respectively. Cyan Holdings advanced 4.8%. The company was downgraded by analysts at JPMorgan Chase from an “Overweight” rating to an “Underweight” rating.
In the UK, the FTSE 100 index gained 0.1%, to 6,739.9, after the Bank of England left its benchmark interest rate and the size of its asset purchase facility unchanged at its monetary policy meeting. Investor sentiment also remained buoyant as data showed a higher-than-expected decline in the nation’s trade deficit in November. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index added 0.3%, to 3,217, and the FTSE AIM 100 Index advanced 1.5%, to 4,033.7.
US markets finished mostly higher during in the week, as optimism over corporate earnings overshadowed concerns about a surprise drop in the nation’s nonfarm payrolls. Earlier, minutes of the US Fed meeting revealed growing concerns among policymakers about diminishing economic benefits from its bond purchase programme. The DJIA index fell 0.2%, to close at 16,437.05 and the NASDAQ index advanced 1%, to settle at 4,174.7.
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