ARM Holdings, up 6%, unveiled a new series of chip designs and confirmed that leading chip makers have signed deals to license the new designs. An ARM official also stated that the company and Microsoft are collaborating on a 64-bit Windows version. Meanwhile, UBS recommended the stock as a “Buy”, while Deutsche Bank reiterated its “Overweight” rating.
Goldman Sachs recommended investors to buy shares of Johnson Matthey, up 2.3%, and set a target price for the stock of 2,850p. Blinkx surged 29.5% and emerged as the top gainer in the Cambridge Index, after it announced that its first half revenue is expected to be approximately $80m, while pre-tax profits should be around $2.4m, ahead of market expectations.
The shares of Cyan Holdings continued their recent upbeat performance and jumped 19.4%. The company informed the market that one of its partners has participated in the high profile smart grid project initiated by the Power Grid Corporation of India, in Puducherry. PDX, up 6.8%, confirmed that it is in the advanced stages of arranging a share placing of £5m, accompanied by an open offer of a further £1m at 3p per share.
Elsewhere, DS Smith, up 2.5%, received a positive review by Goldman Sachs which assigned a “Buy” rating on the stock and set a target price of 290p. Aveva Group rose 2.2% to 2,045p as Citigroup recommended a “Neutral” rating and set a target price of 2,160p. CSR, up 4.3%, announced its intention to return cash of up to $285m to its shareholders by means of a tender offer at 335p to 375p per share.
Kier Group eased 1.9% despite winning an environmental services contract valued at around £120m from a consortium of four councils in East Sussex. Tristel, down 0.7%, revealed that its full year revenues rose 18% to £10.9m and adjusted pre-tax profit surged 48% to £0.8m. The board increased the final dividend by 12% to 0.62p.
In the UK, the FTSE 100 index closed 1.1% higher, at 5868.6, as earnings from key UK and European companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, Deutsche Bank, Air France-KLM Group and Deutsche Lufthansa topped estimates. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index rose 1.4% to 2432.3, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index advanced 0.9% to 3163.1.
US markets ended slightly lower during the shortened week as investors digested the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The Dow Jones Index eased 0.1% to 13093.2, while the Nasdaq Index fell 0.2% to 2982.1.
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Cambridge Index rises 4%
6 November 2012
A better than expected trend in corporate earnings and upbeat US jobs data led most global equity markets to end the week higher. Registering a much better performance than the broader indices, the Cambridge Index rose 4% or 470.4 points to 12,283.4, helped by gains in all but one of the top ten index heavyweights.