(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors - UK)
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In contrast to FTSE100 FTSE AIM 100 was higher at the close with Vast Resources (LON:VAST) still the top London gainer.
Shares surged around 49% as the mining firm declined a second payment under a financing agreed earlier this year due to the potential dilution for shareholders.
In the markets FTSE AIM 100 added 0.24% to stand at 3357 while the FTSE AIM All share index eased a tad - 0.02% to stand at 712.120.
FTSE100 closed down however around around 74 at 6091 with miners among the big cap losers. Glencore (LON:GLEN) the commodities giant was down 5.31% to 141.85p and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) shed 4.37% to 736.10p.
Berkeley Group Holdings (LON:BKG) the property firm was the big winner up 2.56% to 3283p a share.
In the US the benchmark Dow is down 99 points at the time of writing - at 17637.
A notable small cap riser on the day was cancer drug developer Sareum Holdings Plc (LON:SAR) which added almost 24% to stand at 0.89p as it received the regulatory green light for clinical trials of its candidate CCT245737.
The go-ahead from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) means that subject to final approval from the NHS clinical studies are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2016.
Chief executive Dr Tim Mitchell told investors: "This approval for CCT245737 is another significant milestone along its path to being the first from our development pipeline to enter clinical trials."
Speaking to Proactive the company boss added:" It's a step on the way to getting the drug firmly into patients."
Elsewhere Windar Photonics PLC (LON:WPHO) shares advanced 7.5% to 107.5p as it revealed it had won a new Chinese order to be delivered in April.
The order is for 15 WindEYE LiDAR units the company's laser guided systems that sit on the top of turbines and enable positioning to be optimised for prevailing wind conditions.
These units will be installed to Goldwind turbines that are already in operation and that is expected to happen in the second quarter.
DekelOil Public Limited (LON:DKL) added 5.36% to 1.475p as it produced substantially more palm oil than even it expected in its latest quarter.
Output from the 51% owned Ayenouan palm oil project in the Ivory Coast rose by 56% (like-for-like) to 15141 tonnes versus a year ago.
February and March were record months and DekelOil said prices had also started to recover while gross margins had increased considerably compared to 2015.
DiamondCorp (LON:DCP) added over 8% to 8.375p as it reported good demand for diamonds extracted from its Lace mine in South Africa. In all a Total of 8646 carats of diamonds were sold in the first quarter of 2016 with the company experiencing good demand for its produce in all size categories.
All lots offered for sale were sold the company revealed.
Bushveld Minerals Limited (LON:BMN) gained a tad up 2.17% to 2.35p as it took the first big step to becoming an energy storage business after it signed an outline deal with UniEnergy Technologies.
The American company builds energy storage facilities with vanadium at the core of their new technology the vanadium redox flow battery.
Meanwhile on the losing front Landore Resources (LON:LND) whose shares tripled yesterday after confirming a significant gold find in Ontario came back down to earth a tad - down almost 39% to 1.93p.
Dual-listed Asiamet Resources Limited (LON:ARS CVE:ARS) sank over 27% in London to 2.95p as it announced the results of a preliminary economic assessment of Beruang Kanan Main copper deposit in Kalimantan Indonesia.
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MIDSESSION
Shares on London's junior market were slightly off the pace in lunchtime trading but faring better than their bigger brethren.
The FTSE Aim 100 was down eight points at 3341 and the FTSE Aim All-Share was down a couple of points at 710 but both were making a better fist of things than the FTSE 100 which was down 81 points at 6084 weighed down by weak mining and banking shares.
What goes up must come down the old adage has it and that was certainly the case forLandore ResourcesPLC (LON:LND) today as it lost 41% of its value after seeing it share price triple yesterday on the back of a significant gold find in Ontario.
Today's hot rocket isSareum Holdings Plc(LON:SAR) the specialist cancer drug discovery and development company that shot up 56% to 1.125p as it revealed that the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved the Clinical Trial Applications (CTAs) for its CHK1 inhibitor drug candidate CCT245737.
The prospect of shareholder diluted atVast ResourcesPLC (LON:VAST) has passed for the time being as the miner has declined a second payment under a financing agreed earlier this year.
Shares zoomed up 47% to 0.36p.
Indian fashion firmKoovsPLC (LON:KOOV) scrubbed up well adding 28% at 21.85p as it revealed it had reached 10mln in sales ahead of schedule.
DiamondCorpPLC (LON:DCP) sparkled after the company reported good demand for diamonds extracted from its Lace mine in South Africa.
The shares rose 9.7% to 8.5p.
Dual-listedAsiamet ResourcesLimited (LON:ARS CVE:ARS) went the other way shedding 0.7p at 3.38p as it announced the results of a preliminary economic assessment of Beruang Kanan Main copper deposit in Kalimantan Indonesia.
Payback will be less than two and a half years even at today's soft copper price.
Sector peerAlecto Minerals(LON:ALO) the Africa-focused exploration and development company fell 10% to 0.10125p asPaternoster Resourcesserved notice to convert $495365 of loan notes into 433.5mln Alecto shares at a conversion price of 0.08p a share
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OPEN
UK small caps were heading lower on Tuesday along with bigger Footsie but smaller resource shares were doing well.
Vast ResourcesPLC (LON:VAST) was London's top gainer - up over 53% at 0.38p - as it declined a second payment under a financing agreed earlier this year due to the potential dilution for shareholders.
Also in the frame wasNorth River Resources(LON:NRRP) the Namibia focused explorer up 22.5% to 0.12p andKeras Resources(LON: KRS) added 12.9% to 1.75p. Russian Far east focusedAmur MineralsCorp (LON:AMC) also added 6.47% to 6.5p after a sizeable resource upgrade for its Kun-Manie project.
A notable gainer was also coms specialistAdEPT TelecomPLC (LON:ADT) which added almost 7% in early deals as it revealed earnings for the year just ended will exceed market expectations.
The final figures have yet to be totted up but the firm said underlying earnings (EBITDA) for the year to 31 March 2016 are set to be around 33% higher year-on-year slightly ahead of the 30% increase the market had been expecting.
Turnover should also surprise to the upside with the company flagging up a 30% year-on-year rise in the top line.
On the downsideBlinkx(LON:BLNX) which specialises in video search was not cheering the market with shares shedding almost 16.5% to 17.75p as it issued a trading update.
The company is on course to have generated US$165-170mln of revenues in the 12 months to December and adjusted EBITDA of US$10-11mln. It is sitting on cash of around US$76mln.
Landore Resources(LON:LND) whose shares tripled yeserday after confirming a significant gold find in Ontario came down to earth a tad - down 12.7% to 2.75p each.
In the markets FTSE AIM 100 eased 0.29% to stand at 3339 while the FTSE AIM All share lost 0.17% to 711.050.
FTSE100 was down 73 at the time of writing at 6091 with conversely miners the big laggards. Glencore (LON:GLEN) led the pack lower down 4.84% to 142.55p.
It comes after weak finished in Asia and the US overnight and the US oil price declining 0.92% to US$35.38 a barrel.
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PREVIEW
The Footsie is set to give back yesterday's meagre gains and a bit more following the lead of US and Asian markets.
Spread betting quotes indicate a fall of 30 points or so for the FTSE 100 which closed last night at 6165 up 19 points.
Oil stocks which form a significant part of the weighting of the top-share index are expected to be under pressure as the price of crude softened this morning.
Brent crude for June delivery was down 0.16% at $37.53 in early trading.
'Oil is likely to remain volatile though as the prospect of a coordinated production freeze becomes increasingly less likely' said Craig Erlam at forex trading platform OANDA alluding to the meeting later this month of the oil producers' cartel Opec.
'The freeze could have been a first big step towards an agreement to cut production among all major oil producers but it would appear we're some way from this. In the absence of either though oil could find itself heading back towards its January lows' Erlam suggested.
US markets retreated yesterday with the Dow Jones industrial average off 0.3% at 17737 the Nasdaq Composite down 0.5% at 4892 and the S&P 500 0.3% weaker at 2066.
Heading into the last half hour of trading the Nikkei 225 in Japan was down heavily 2.4% or 388 points lower at 15735 as the strength of the yen weighed on sentiment.
In Hong Kong the Hang Seng was trading 302 points (1.5%) lower at 20196.
In the UK the big names set to report this morning include roadside recovery agencyAA plc(LON:AA. British Airways owner IAG (LON:IAG) and struggling sweeteners makerTate & LylePLC (LON:TATE).
Also reporting is retailerCard FactoryPLC (LON:CARD) where the focus is likely to be on the growth in underlying earnings (EBITDA) according toPeel Hunt.
The market is forecasting EBITDA of 95mln butPeel Huntis a bit more optimistic going for 97mln.
Among the small caps computer game services providerKeywords StudiosPLC (LON:KWS) could catch the eye having recently raised profits guidance.
'On 1 February Keywords noted that it expected to report revenues and adjusted PBT [profit before tax] comfortably ahead of consensus market expectations' noted Numis Securities.
'We think that Keywords is likely to have generated organic revenue growth of about 20% in the year supplemented by acquisitions to c.55% Total and to have delivered stable margins. At the time of these results in particular we expect management to have a clearer perspective on major customers' likely demand through 2016 than was available at the time of the trading update. We model organic growth in 2016 of 10% alongside stable margins which we believe is potentially conservative' the broker said.
'We also continue to expect material acquisitions in due course although we have no reason to believe that an acquisition will take place alongside the results' it added.
Instem Plc(LON:INS) which provides IT solutions to drug developers is expected to announce a surge in profit before tax for 2015.
The market is expecting profit before tax of 1.74mln up from 0.21mln the year before on revenue of 15.8mln (2014:13.43mln). Recurring revenue should clock in at 9.6mln or more up from 9.2mln the year before.
Net cash at the end of the year should be at least 2.1mln up from 1.7mln a year earlier.
Recent news flow has been good with the group announcing four new contract wins for its submit solution suite on the eve of the announcement of results following on from last month's two contract wins.