THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATURE Gabriel Sacks, Co-Manager, abrdn Asia Focus plcTrawl the internet for Indonesia's most famous tourist attractions and the chances are you will soon be linked to a Komodo dragon. At least for faint-hearted visitors, whether such a creature truly qualifies as an "attraction" could be a moot point.Komodo dragons are the largest lizards on Earth. Males can grow to near

Kainos (KNOS) £10.16Market cap: £1.28 billionWe believe that market sentiment towards Kainos (KNOS) is on the cusp of a reversal, and that creates a buying opportunity for investors. Shares in the Belfast-based digital services expert are now trading at a 30% discount to 12-month highs and are barely half all-time peaks of more than £20.This is largely because of what analysts have called a cyc

Caledonia Investments (CLDN)Price: £35.18Market cap: £1.92 billionAmid all the talk of the UK market being full of 'hidden gems', we think Caledonia Investments (CLDN) could be one of the best examples of 'hidden value' in the mid-cap FTSE 250 index.The global multi-asset investment company tends not to get much air-time, but Shares caught up with chief executive Mat Masters and finance director

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATURE Stephen AnnessHead of Global Equities, Invesco The Magnificent Seven ? the group of supercharged stocks named after the classic Western movie ? that delivered such outstanding returns in 2023 generated so much attention you would think it impossible to have beaten the index without owning them all. The fact that some of us did should be hugely reassuring to investor

Stocks in London made muted progress on Monday, despite further tech gains in New York, in a lull ahead of a storm of central bank announcements this week.The FTSE 100 index closed down 4.87 points, 0.1%, at 7,722.55. The FTSE 250 ended down 26.38 points, 0.2%, at 19,486.53, and the AIM All-Share closed down 1.68 points, 0.2%, at 736.63.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.1% at 773.55, the Cboe UK 250 cl

Even today?s market giants started out small. Microsoft (MSFT:NASDAQ) may now be the world?s largest company with a $3 trillion valuation which rivals the GDP of some major global economies but it began life as a start-up founded by Harvard College drop-out Bill Gates and his childhood friend Paul Allen. Few then would have predicted its global domination today.While we are not expecting the names

Google-owner Alphabet (GOOG:NASDAQ) hasn't been shooting any AI (artificial intelligence) lights out lately, but the launch of its Gemini AI model could mark a significant leap in the tech giant's quest to regain dominance in the sectorThat's clearly the thinking among Wall Street analysts, who dished out a swathe of positive updates on Alphabet helping blow the cobwebs off a stock which hadn't ma

Investors in London showed some confidence at the open on Friday, looking ahead to US jobs data later in the day.The FTSE 100 index opened up 18.77 points, 0.3%, at 7,532.49. The FTSE 250 was up 57.82 points, 0.3%, at 18,676.56, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.82 points, 0.3%, at 722.68.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 752.22, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 16,205.44, and the Cboe Small Companies was

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATUREAfter almost 40 years with Aberdeen Asset Management (now abrdn) ? including 28 years founding and running abrdn Asia Focus investment trust (AAS) ? venerable Asia hand Hugh Young is finally to hang up his managerial boots, or at least leave them on the step for his teammate and successor Gabriel Sacks to step into.They?re undoubtedly big boots to fill. Morningstar da

Everyone hates small and mid-cap stocks right now. Their performance has badly lagged those of their larger counterparts in recent months.Seen as more vulnerable to the vagaries of the economy and without the scale and financial strength to withstand higher borrowing costs, investors have been abandoning them in their droves. The chart shows how the MSCI World Small Cap index has been lagging the

Alongside the rally in mega cap tech names since January, one of 2023's big themes is the popularity of global luxury goods stocks, with LVMH (MC:EPA), Richemont (CFR:SWX) and Hermès (RMS:EPA) hitting new share price highs amid an extraordinary boom in sales, supported by a demand rebound from China. LVMH even became the first European company to surpass $500 billion in market value.But som

I'm now in my mid-40s and have moved around jobs fairly regularly, staying in each one for just a few years or sometimes even less. This now means I have eight different pension pots, some with as little as £1,000 in. Will this pose an administrative nightmare when I retire? And should I be looking to combine them into one?'John, DerbyshireTom Selby, AJ Bell Head of Retirement Policy, says:Don't

Direct LineCan the insurer win back the market's support after dividend fiasco?Having paid out over £1.5 billion to shareholders in the last decade, including during the pandemic, Direct Line (DLG) was a well-liked and widely-owned stock.However, after dropping a bombshell in January with the news it was pulling its dividend in order to rebuild its balance sheet, Direct Line has a mountain to cli

Investors looking to build a diversified portfolio with an emphasis on income ought to look at Henderson Far East Income (HFEL), an investment trust which is currently yielding more than 8% and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 years.While Asia may not occur straight away as a predictable source of cash flows and income, profits and dividends have been growing strongly and the regio

Markets are gradually re-engaging with growth stocks as inflation and supply chain pressures ease and economic data shows signs of promise. We believe XP Power (XPP) stands to benefit, and analysts agree - Berenberg sees earnings doubling within five years thanks to end-market structural growth and market share gains.XP Power is an electronics engineering gem, a science-based designer of complex p

Special situation funds should, in theory, be busy making new investments in the current market environment. Their strategy includes finding unloved stocks which could either bounce back thanks to corporate self-help measures or the market eventually spots hidden value within a business which then attracts more buyers for the shares.Given how so many stocks have slumped in value this year - many f

Anyone interested in US-listed stocks might find themselves confused when trying to read the latest company announcements. Unless you know the difference between an 8-K and a 10-Q form, trying to fathom what each announcement means is a nightmare.In the UK, most stock exchange announcements have titles which summarise their content, such as annual report, trading update or director dealings.In the

Investors are increasingly looking for stocks, bonds or funds that pay a good income.Dividends or bond coupons provide positive returns which are particularly attractive in a more challenging market such as now.Many people have this year lost money from backing high-growth but dividend-less stocks such as Tesla (TSLA:NASDQ) and Netflix (NFLX:NASDAQ), and they're fed up.In the other side of the rin

In this article we take a dive into the lowly valued part of the UK stock market to see if we can find some hidden gems. Specifically, we are looking for shares trading on less than eight times forecast earnings.It is sometimes said 'one man's meat is another man's poison' or 'one man's rubbish is another man's treasure'.Digging around the ultra-cheap end of the stock market may not be everyone's

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATUREThe world's smallest markets are widely neglected by investors. Emily Fletcher, Co-Manager of the BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust plc, asks whether a change of market environment might bring about a new era for these unloved gems. Capital at risk. The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise and are not guaranteed. Investors may not