Jefferies reconfirmed its “Hold” rating on DS Smith, up 2.6%, with a target price of 540p.
Johnson Matthey, down 0.3%, announced the appointment of its Non-Executive Director, Alan Ferguson, as a Non-Executive Director of AngloGold Ashanti Limited with effect from 01 October 2018.
1Spatial, up 10.2%, announced that the shareholders have duly passed all resolutions in its Annual General Meeting, including its decision to consolidate every 10 existing ordinary shares of 1p each into one consolidated ordinary share of 10p each. Furthermore, 1Spatial successfully raised £8m through placing 22.7m shares at 37.5p each.
Peel Hunt slashed its target price on Horizon Discovery Group, up 3.4%, to 177p from 181p and reissued its “Hold” rating.
Brady, unchanged at 66.5p, announced that it will release its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2018 on 10 September 2018.
UK markets ended in the green last week, led by gains in commodity and financial sector stocks. In economic news, the UK government posted its biggest surplus in 18 years in July. Meanwhile, the British Rightmove house prices dropped on an annual basis in August, while the mortgage approvals unexpectedly eased in July. The FTSE 100 index advanced 0.3% to settle at 7577.49, while the FTSE AIM 100 index rose 1.5% to close at 5823.78. Meanwhile, the FTSE techMARK 100 index gained 0.6% to end at 4762.64.
US markets finished on a stronger footing in the previous week, after the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) August monetary policy meeting minutes hinted prospects for an interest rate hike in September, amid strong US economy. On the data front, the US initial jobless claims surprisingly eased in the week ended 18 August. On the contrary, US manufacturing sector activity cooled to a 9-month low in August, while the nation’s services PMI fell to a 4-month low in the same month. Additionally, US new home sales surprisingly slid to its lowest level in nine months in July. The DJIA index rose 0.5% to end at 25790.35, while the NASDAQ index gained 1.7% to close at 7945.975.