Cambridge Index climbs 3.2%

The Cambridge Index surged 781.7 points or 3.2% to close at 24,936.6, as nine of the top ten Index heavyweights posted weekly gains to their share prices.

DS Smith, up 3.2%, announced that Jonathan Nicholls, Senior Independent Director of the company, has been elected as its Chairman, with effect from 24 May 2018.

Peel Hunt reaffirmed its “Hold” rating on Abcam, up 5.4%, with a target price of 1100p. AVEVA Group, up 4.0%, announced that the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States has completed its review and has given clearance for the proposed combination of AVEVA and the Schneider Electric industrial software business. JPMorgan reissued its “Overweight” rating on the stock with a target price of 3200p. Numis Securities reiterated its “Add” rating on the stock with a target price of 3230p.

Peel Hunt restated its “Add” rating on Greene King, up 0.8%, with a target price of 625p. HSBC slashed its target price on the stock to 485p from 480p and maintained its “Reduce” rating.

Sareum Holdings, up 14.7%, announced that it will release its interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2017 in the first two weeks of March. FinnCap reaffirmed its “Corporate” rating on Frontier Developments, up 10.3%, with a target price of 1700p. Liberum Capital restated its “Buy” rating on the stock.

Peel Hunt lowered its target price on Dialight, down 0.3%, to 720p from 920p and reaffirmed its “Hold” rating.

Elektron Technology, down 0.4%, announced that it has successfully completed the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Queensgate Nano, to Prior Scientific Instruments Limited for an initial cash consideration of approximately £0.8m.

Horizon Discovery Group, down 2.7%, announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with an immuno-oncology therapeutics developer based in the US. The company has licensed a novel cell line engineering technology to its US partner as well as non-exclusive rights to Horizon’s Helitron transposon gene editing technology. Numis Securities reiterated its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 300p.

Gaming Realms, down 3.4%, announced that it has entered into a multi-show licensing agreement with ITV, wherein new games will be hosted on Gaming Realms’ proprietary platform under the brand, tellygames.com. New games would also be licensed to 3rd party operators through the company’s Slingo Originals licensed content model.

UK markets closed higher in the prior week, supported by gains in commodity sector stocks. On the data front, the UK consumer price inflation came in more than market expectations for the month of January. Meanwhile, British retail sales rose less-than-anticipated in the same month. The FTSE AIM 100 index climbed 4.0% to close at 5,369.5, while the FTSE 100 index jumped 2.9% to settle at 7,294.7. Moreover, the FTSE techMARK 100 index surged 4.0% to end at 4,425.9.

US markets ended in the positive territory last week, driven by gains in technology sector stocks. On the macro front, the monthly US consumer prices advanced higher-than-expected in January, fuelling hopes that the Federal Reserve would accelerate the pace of interest rate hikes in 2018. Moreover, building permits and housing starts climbed in January, while the Michigan consumer sentiment index unexpectedly surged in February. The DJIA index dropped 5.2% to end at 24,190.9, while the NASDAQ index lost 5.1% to close at 6,874.5.

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