A rising pound, coupled with growing tensions over North Korea, has sent the FTSE 100 down by over 80 points in early trading.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Wall Street yesterday rallied on the back of bank and tech stocks ending a three session slide.
Among UK corporate news following the Easter break, decent third quarter trading from Ashmore (ASHM) fails to excite the market. Its shares dip 1.7% to 357.4p despite reporting a 7% increase in asset under management to $55.9bn.
The firm’s chief executive Mark Coombs says the performance of emerging market assets should ‘increase the pressure on investors to address their underweight allocations [in emerging markets]’.
Wey Education (WEY:AIM) soars by 21.7% to 14p as it released its half year results to 28 February. The firm’s turnover increased by 73% to £1.2m and the company has made its maiden profit after losing over £400,000 last year.
Investors are buoyed by MTI Wireless Edge’s (MWE:AIM) contract win which sends its share price up by 3.3% to 23.25p. This is the second contact the firm’s subsidiary Mottech Water Solutions has won in China, with a combined value of $700,000.
Cloudbuy (CBUY:AIM), the could-based e-commerce marketplace, sees its share price move up 3.7% to 3.5p as it updates investors with its AGM statement. The firm says that its PHB Choices platform is expected to increase in terms of number of transactions and remains a ‘key focus for the business to drive revenue in 2017’.
Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR) disappoints again with the failure of its dust mite allergy trial. Its share price is down by almost 2% to 100.75p. This follows its previous cat allergy study which also did not produce the required results. The firm's chief executive Steve Harris says the firm will make no further investment into its allergy portfolio.
Distil (DIS:AIM) announces that another major supermarket group has listed its premium spirit, RedLeg Spiced Rum, for its stores. The firm's share price remains flat at 2.85p after a strong run despite the company guiding for its full year results to be slightly ahead of market expectations.
