For now, the escalating conflict in Ukraine shows no signs of easing. After the initial shock, markets were hopeful the economic impact of the war might be contained as the West's opening salvo of sanctions in response to Russia's invasion (24 Feb) were weaker than some had anticipated.However, any relief soon dissipated as Ukraine put up stiff resistance against the Russian invaders and...

The FTSE has so far managed to keep its chin up on the final day of trading in 2017. At 9am the blue chip index traded 10 points higher at 7,632.Topping the leader board was Vectura (VEC), extending yesterday's rally amid vague bid rumours. Today it moved another 3.6% higher to 125.85p.Among the mid and large caps, Wizz Air (WIZZ) signed an agreement to buy 146 Airbus A320neo Family aircraft....

UK stock markets are back in reverse gear in early trade on Friday after the collapse of Greek debt talks at the Eurogroup meeting on Thursday. There may also be some residual nervousness over the upcoming budget, due on 8 Jul, details of which you can read here.The FTSE 100 slumps more than 70 points, or more than 1%, to was down 0.72% at 6,737, while midcaps and the wider FTSE All Share both...

Following last year's big profit warning, FTSE 250 sports media group Perform (PER) bounces back 9% to 255p after appointing a new chief financial officer and saying that first quarter trading has gone well. Ashley Milton is joining from a division of WPP (WPP), the world's largest advertising and marketing group.Struggling grocer Morrisons (MRW), still reeling from its severe profit warning...

0.2 Price to NAVAt 28.75p, Zanaga Iron Ore (ZIOC:AIM) trades on 0.2 times its estimated net present value (NPV). Following a new phased approach (13 Sep) for Zanaga's project in the Republic of Congo which more than halves start-up costs to $3 billion, house broker Liberum calculates a $536 million NPV for stage one, equal to 123p per share.We fail to see any catalyst to close the valuation...

Embattled graphics chip designer Imagination Technologies (IMG) at last gets investors on side after unveiling a much expanded, multi-year deal with Mediatek. Imagination's PowerVR series6 family of chips used by the Taiwanese chip manufacturer, sparking a near-9% jump in the supplier to 334.6p. We flagged the scope for PowerVR as a catalyst in last week's Big Debate section of Shares.UK...

Glencore Xstrata (XTA) rises 4.1% to 334.5p as it provides a significant amount of information on its future plans to investors in a day-long presentation. The market likes the news of $2 billion of synergies from buying Xstrata earlier this year, significantly ahead of the initial $500 million merger guidance. Also pleasing investors is a bullish stance on commodities in general, saying there...