(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) FTSE 100 rose by more than expected ahead of today’s two key announcements the UK Budget and the US Federal Reserve meeting.
Footsie was 45 points higher at 6883 with Asia-focused bank () the big mover after Asian equities mostly outperformed overnight. Shares rose more than 58p to 1023p.
This follows increasing the rating to ‘overweight’ from ‘equal weight’ as it sees plenty of scope for the business to be refocused after the appointment of a new chief.
Sticking with it downgraded fellow blue-chip banking giant () to ‘equal weight’ from ‘overweight’. Despite this shares were relatively flat at 570p.
() fell on concern about the company’s exposure to the oil and gas businesses which continues to send investors fleeing. Its shares were down 2% to 1744p.
() was the index’s biggest faller down 3% to 637p.
The company continues to struggle due to low gold and silver prices despite announcing 2014 results showing record production.
() announced lower revenue and first half operating profits. Share dropped 1% to 1164p.
Smiths is a perennial bid target and today’s lacklustre numbers may start the tongues wagging again.
More activity in the Horse Hill project saw shares in () a key player in the Surrey oil project rise 3.3%% to 0.57p.
A reservoir specialist has identified an additional 407 feet of potential oil pay within the limestones and claystones of the Kimmeridge formation.
Mineral exploration small-cap () jumped by more than 8% on progress on its mining licence application for the West Kytim alluvial platinum project in Russia. Its share rose to 0.7p
Shares in Deltex Medical () rose by more than 11% as directors weighed in to buy more shares. The share price was up 0.65p to 6.4p making a 40% gain since last Friday.
The biggest small cap faller was cloud-based solutions company Group () as it announced pre-tax losses of £5.5mln. Its share dropped 36% to 87.5p.
It is a second straight bad day for Roman Abramovich-backed () as the fuel cell energy expert continues to lose momentum after last week’s price hike.
Shares had previously tripled but have declined over the last two days and are now at 20.7p as it hit more profit taking.
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