Disappointing Chinese trade figures were not sufficient to dim investors' sunny outlook with the FTSE 100 up 0.4% to 6,823.21. It is now up nearly 3% since governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney announced an rate cut to 0.25% and a significant stimulus package.
Among the blue chips, drugs firm Shire (SHP) is down 0.4% to £51.25 as it posts in-line interims with total reported product sales up 36% to $3.9 billion. The shares had been very strong heading into this announcement.
Support services and construction outfit Interserve (IRV) is up 1.4% to 305.2p as it is awarded a two-year, £20 million extension on a contract to provide security to the BBC.
Italy and North Africa focused E&P Sound Energy (SOU:AIM) gains 10.5% to 66p as it announces excellent results from its Tendrara block in Morocco. A flow rate of 17 million cubic feet per day is seven times pre-drill expectations.
Pollster YouGov (YOU:AIM) is up 1.6% to 193.5p as it reports trading for the year to 31 July will be ‘slightly’ ahead of expectations. Net cash is reported at £15 million.
Online gambling marketing play XLMedia (XLM:AIM) is up 3.9% to 78.9p as a subsidiary gains official status as a Facebook (FB:NDQ) Marketing Partner.
West African gold producer Aureus Mining (AUE:AIM) collapses 23.6% to 3.15p as it reports unscheduled downtime as it experiences issues with the processing plant at its New Liberty mine.
Rising occupancy and higher prices as well as lower costs saw self-storage company Lok’nStore’s (LOK:AIM) like-for-like revenues improve 5.2% in the year to 31 July. The shares moved 1.1% higher to 325p on the update.
Internet-of-things specialist Telit Communications (TCM:AIM) climbs 3.1% to 268.1p on expectations of a stronger second half after sales grew 6.3% to $166.1 million in the six months to 30 June. Delays in securing approval in the US for some of its products were behind the muted first half performance but double digit revenue growth is expected for the full year.
Software-as-a-service provider LoopUp intends to float on AIM in August.
