Barclays Capital reissued its “Overweight” rating on Johnson Matthey, up 0.9%.
AVEVA Group, up 0.4%, announced that it has received all outstanding regulatory clearances required for the completion of its combination with Schneider Electric, while expects CFIUS approval between December 2017 to mid-February 2018. JP Morgan Chase & Co reduced its target price on Greene King, up 1.0%, to 500p from 650p and gave an “Underweight” rating.
Gaming Realms, up 14.3%, announced that it has signed a framework service deal with the Jackpotjoy group for 10 years and a separate agreement for the provision of its white label site, JackpotHappy.com.
Amino Technologies, up 5.2%, announced that it has postponed the General Meeting to 18 January 2018. Tristel, up 5.0%, announced that its interim results or the six months ending 31 December 2017 will be published on 20 February 2018.
FinnCap restated its “Corporate” rating on Frontier Developments, up 2.6%, with a target price of 500p. Horizon Discovery Group, up 2.4%,, announced a partnership deal with Roche Diagnostics for the development immunohistochemistry assays.
Xaar, up 1.8%, announced that it has signed a deal with Seiko Instruments Inc (SII) for upgrading SII's current License Arrangement for nearly £20m in cash. N+1 Singer reiterated its “Corporate” rating on the stock. Peel Hunt restated its “Buy” rating on Kier Group, up 1.1%, with a target price of 1600p.
Ubisense Group, down 1.1%, announced that it has signed a new contract in space and satellites sector for its SmartSpace platform and associated products. Sareum Holdings, down 8.3%, in its AGM statement, announced that it has made significant progress on annual basis.
Dialight, down 12.6%, in its trading update, announced that it continues to face output volume shortage at the plant in Guadalajara, Mexico, leading to a large number of orders to remain unfulfilled this year. Vernalis, down 28.6%, announced a partnership deal with Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited. Separately, the company announced that a steady growth has been recorded in Tuzistra XR prescriptions and an acceleration would be needed to meet market estimates of 105,000-115,000 prescriptions for the year.
UK markets closed mostly higher in the last week, after British retail sales surprisingly jumped to a seven-month high in November. Also, the nation’s annual inflation touched a six-year high in the same month. In major news, the Bank of England, in its latest monetary policy meeting, kept its key interest rate unchanged at 0.50% and hinted at softer economic growth in the fourth quarter. The FTSE 100 index climbed 1.3% to settle at 7,490.6, while the FTSE techMARK 100 index jumped 0.2% to end at 4,562.4. Meanwhile, the FTSE AIM 100 index lost 0.7% to close at 5,193.3.
US markets finished in the green in the prior week, after the US Federal Reserve lifted its benchmark interest rates and raised its US economic growth forecast for 2018. Also, the central bank projected three more rate hikes in the next year. On the data front, the nation’s manufacturing sector activity surged at its strongest pace in eleven months for December. The DJIA index jumped 1.3% to end at 24,651.7, while the NASDAQ index added 1.4% to close at 6,936.6.