The FTSE 100's rise this week finally appears to have run out of steam, the blue-chip benchmark being 26.7 points down at 7342.9 early on. Spread betters appear to have seen this coming, with one firm expecting a 23 point drop this morning. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index is up 12.3 points to 3222.5, although still someway off Monday's high of 3280.5.However, John Menzies (MNZS) jumps 45.5p

London equities make fractional gains in early trade on Thursday with rising miners and oilies only just outstripping falls among utilities, financials and pharmas. European markets are modestly firmer overall, following drops on Wall Street and across Asia after the Fed Reserve held its benchmark interest rate overnight.The FTSE 100 index nudges just a point or two higher to 5,990, although mid c

The junior mining space is experiencing mixed fortunes with takeover activity. Condor Gold (CNR:AIM) says it is no longer up for sale after seeing its share price fall by 65% since putting itself on the market. In contrast, Aurasian Minerals (AUM:AIM) has decided to press ahead with efforts to buy private exploration group Moroccan Minerals, having completed due diligence.Condor has blamed negativ

Dubbed 'micro caps' by investors, the London stock market's smallest quoted company fry can be binary bets, as likely to 'turn turtle' as morph into a 'ten-bagger', the latter the holy grail of growth company investing. Yet despite their inherent risks, micro caps should form at least a portion of a well-diversified portfolio, since they offer potential for rapid-paced growth and abundant share pr

London shares start the week on the front foot as big commodities blue-chips rally strongly in early deals on Monday. The FTSE 100 index rises around 60 points, or 1%, to 6,101 although midcaps gains are harder won. The FTSE 250 nudges 0.3% up to 16,865.China's mainland Shanghai Composite stock exchange re-opens after a four-day break, posting a 2.5% decline overnight which sees it catch up with l

'Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can't buy what is popular and do well.' Warren Buffett's famous quotation certainly resonates with gold mining equities. Five years ago you couldn't move for every Tom, Dick and Harry talking about the merits of the sector, giving you tips on hot prospects and everyone declaring them

The scale of the ongoing commodities slump is fully laid out by stark performance figures unearthed by Shares. Every single one of the major commodities apart from uranium have declined in price so far in 2015, leaving investors with a bitter attitude towards natural resources. There are buying opportunities for the brave, but you must understand the fundamentals for each relevant commodity before

The stock market's smallest and riskiest companies have always held fascination for private investors. On the premise that 'elephants don't gallop, but fleas leap,' to borrow Jim Slater's often quoted phrase, it's easier for a tiny company to double its size, and investor's money, than for a big one. Let's face it, a blue chip company worth £1 billion will find it much harder to double or even tr

Resource firms are coming into focus as investors search for oversold equities and yield opportunities. But anyone deploying cash here needs to step back and take a careful look at the project economics relating to each individual miner or oil and gas play given what is likely to remain a challenging backcloth for commodity prices.When commodity prices were roaring away, picking a successful secto

We're not surprised that a negative trading update sends Tate & Lyle (TATE) up 1.7% to 751.5p. The bad news was already priced into the shares which have already been heavily sold off in the past few months amid fears of competition from Chinese manufacturers. There's a market glut of artificial sweetener, sucralose, which has triggered a sharp fall in prices. Analysts note that sucralose accounts

Autumn's leap in merger and acquisition (M&A) activity signals those 'animal spirits', the economic driver identified by economist John Maynard Keynes back in the 1930s, could be about to erupt again. American technology giant Applied Materials' (AMAT:NDQ) $10 billion all-stock offer for Japanese rival Tokyo Electron (8035:T) may just be the first of many deals, large or small. A research report i

Recruitment consultant Michael Page (MPI) slips 4.7% to 447.2p after reporting an 11.3% drop in pre-tax profit before one-off items. The stock has rallied since July, leaving the group trading on a very high - and unjustified - rating. It is therefore no surprise to see the shares retreat as the consultant warns of continued tough market conditions.Mid cap oil producer EnQuest (ENQ), focused on th

After being hit by profit taking in May, a trading update has revived the rally in books-to-newspaper distributor Smiths News (NWS), sending the shares up 7.5% to 167.75p as the company said it was on track to hit consensus forecasts for the year to 31 August. We're slightly surprised at the market's upbeat reaction given that its growth driver, the education supplies arm, reported a 1.5% drop in

It's been a torrid few months for online dating provider Cupid (CUP:AIM) after a radio programme last month implied that the £118 million cap had fake member profiles on its portfolio of websites. Cupid said the allegations were 'without foundation'. Its results today show an impressive performance with a 31% rise in pre-tax profit and 33% higher dividend at 3p per share. Cupid plans to take its

Nicaragua-based Condor Gold (CNR:AIM) has enjoyed a strong run since last summer, rising from 48p in June to just shy of 200p in November. This is a result of high-grade drilling results, a better-than-expected resource upgrade on its flagship La India deposit to 2.4 million ounces of gold and adding adjacent land to its licence area.The rally came to a halt on 30 November when Condor decided to p