Cambridge Index rises 1.8%

The Cambridge Index gained 469.9 points or 1.8% to close at 27230.2, as seven of the top ten Index heavyweights posted weekly gains to their share prices.

JP Morgan Cazenove trimmed its target price on Johnson Matthey, up 1.0%, to 2850p from 3400p and downgraded its rating to “Underweight” from “Neutral”. Barclays Capital lowered its target price on the stock to 3330p from 3790p and gave an “Equal weight” rating. Liberum Capital slashed its target price on the stock to 3500p from 4400p and gave a “Buy” rating. UBS reaffirmed its “Sell” rating on the stock with a target price of 2700p.

Cambridge Cognition Holdings, up 11.1%, announced that it has introduced an improved electronic clinical outcome assessment (eCOA) platform and anticipates the eCOA market to reach $2b by 2025. The platform will include complex forms, alerting, interview recording as well as playback. Also, the firm has secured a new clinical contract worth $0.2m with one of the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies. FinnCap restated its “Buy” rating on the stock.

Tristel, up 7.2%, announced the appointment of Dr Bruno Holthof as Non-Executive Chairman, with effect from 17 December 2019. Also, the company hinted that it will start searching for a third Independent Non-Executive Director to maintain an appropriate balance between Executive and Non-Executive Directors.

Xaar, up 1.6%, announced that the resolution put at the General Meeting to seek shareholder approval for the proposed increase of investment by Stratasys in Xaar 3D with an option for Stratasys to acquire the whole of Xaar 3D within three years, was duly passed.

UK markets ended higher in the last week, supported by gains in mining and financial sector stocks. The nation’s consumer confidence remained flat in November. Meanwhile, the British mortgage approvals dropped to a 7-month low in October. The FTSE 100 index rose 0.3% to settle at 7346.53, while the FTSE AIM 100 index advanced 2.2% to close at 4746.89. Meanwhile, the FTSE techMARK 100 index gained 1.7% to end at 5755.25.

US markets finished in the green in the prior week, led by gains in consumer discretionary and technology sector stocks. The Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book showed that the US economy expanded at a modest pace from October to mid-November and highlighted an optimistic outlook for the economy. In other economic news, the US economy advanced in the third quarter of 2019, while the nation’s durable goods orders unexpectedly rose in October. Moreover, the US advance goods trade deficit narrowed to a 17-month low in October, while the nation’s housing price index climbed in September. Meanwhile, the US new home sales declined in October, while the nation’s consumer confidence index dropped in November. The DJIA index rose 0.6% to end at 28051.41, while the NASDAQ index gained 1.7% to close at 8665.47.

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