London shares head south in early trade on Tuesday, following declines across Europe's leading markets and seemingly ignoring the positive mood across the pond overnight. Miners and pharmas provide the downward drive, with the mining sector filling the top five spots on the Footsie loser board, lad by Glencore's (GLEN) near 9% slump to 108.5p.
The FTSE 100 index tumbles 110 points,or about 1.8%, just about managing to stay abopve the 6,000 mark at 6,001.
On the corporate news front, roadside assistance market leader AA (AA.) sheds 9.5% to 302p as a range of headwinds lead to earnings per share downgrades for 2015 and 2015. Margins were down slightly in the six months to 30 June 2015 as the Basingstoke-headquartered business rolls out its biggest marketing campaign in a decade.
Today's bigger movers are dominated by resource juniors, both the mining and oil and gas side, with Arian Silver (AGQ:AIM) soaring 35% to 9.63p. The company has confirmed positive developments in financing talks with a letter of intent and non-binding term sheet signed with Quintana approved.
Small cap E&P Europa Oil & Gas (EOG:AIM) is down 20% to 3.1p as its US partner on two exploration licences offshore Ireland - Kosmos Energy (KOS:NYSE) - walks away. That also sparks a 15% to 1.38p at Antrim Energy (AEY:AIM), also part of the Frontier team.
Popular exploration minnow Mosman Oil & Gas (MSMN:AIM) loses some of its previous lustre as it pulls the trigger on a £1.5 million gross fund raising at 4.5p per share. That the cash call is oversubscribed comes as little surprise given the fairly hefty 20% discount to yesterday's 6.13p close, sparking today's 18%-odd sell-off. The new cash will go towards the acquisition of a proposed 70% interest in the South Taranaki Energy Project assets.
In the same space, Sirius Petroleum (SRSP:AIM) is another big faller, down 18% to 0.45p, also on a discounted cash call. It is looking for £1.035 million gross via a placing of 250 million new shares and a subscription of 25 million new shares at 0.4p a share.
Outside of the exploration and digging space, Premaitha Health (NIPT:AIM) continues its patchy share run, slumping13% to 17.5p on less than impressive full year results. The company, which also signs a deal in Chile, books a pre-tax loss of £6.8 million for the 13 months to 31 March, from a loss of £1.6 million for the previous year to end February, the company blaming soaring admin costs and IPO related expenses. There's also bad news as the trial for the company's claim over alleged patent infringement will not start for another year, further delaying technology exclusivity.
Elsewhere, IRN-BRU-to-Strathmore water maker A.G. Barr (BAG) lacks fizz, the shares off 4.5% at 537p on disappointing interims and downgrades to full-year profit expectations, reflecting recent poor weather and tough UK soft drinks market conditions.
Budget greetings cards-to-gifts retailer Card Factory (CARD) clips ahead 4.4p to 363.2p as interims reveal strong growth in sales and profits. Card Factory also says it will return £51.1 million of surplus cash to shareholders via a 15p special dividend.
Buyers swoop on personal care-to-beauty products developer Swallowfield (SWL:AIM), bid up 5.5% to 115.5p as full-year results reveal strong profits growth and the reinstatement of the dividend. For more on the Swallowfield story, read our article from August here.
Emerging market-focused bank Standard Chartered (STAN) trades 1% lower at 685.2p on fears it could be hit with fresh fines linked to sanction breaking with Iran.
A warning that full-year results will miss expectations sends non-life insurance fund investor Randall & Quilter (RQIH:AIM) 9.8% lower at 92p. Falling investment returns, investing in its US business and acquisition delays caused a £4.5 million pre-tax loss in the six months to 30 June, compared to it being only £648,000 in the red a year earlier.
