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Wednesday’s movers: Prudential, Ortac Resources, Hummingbird Resources, Orosur Mining, Kefi Minerals, Fastjet

Last updated: 19:04 12 Mar 2014 AEDT, First published: 20:04 12 Mar 2014 AEDT

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Wednesday was set to be another lacklustre day for UK equity markets in the wake of losses across Asian markets as concerns over the Chinese credit market show no sign of abating.

However, one blue chip proved particularly popular with investors in first dealings - Prudential (LON:PRU). 

The life and pensions provider climbed nearly 2% to 1,390p after it revealed in its annual numbers that it had met all six growth and cash targets in 2013.

IFRS operating profit was up 17 per cent to £2.95bn, with a 2013 full year dividend increased by 15 per cent to 33.57p per share.

Prudential’s performance was not enough to lift the benchmark index higher and the Footsie was 46 points lower to 6,639 within the first hour of trading, amid a poor show by banking and mining stocks: HSBC (LON:HSBA), Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY), Barclays (LON:BARC), Vedanta (LON:VED), Glencore Xstrata (LON:GLEN) and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) all markedly underperformed.

Junior mining stocks did better than their blue chips’ counterparts though. 

Ortac Resources (LON:OTC) was one of the biggest risers after it said partner Andiamo Exploration has commenced diamond core drilling at the Yacob Dewar gold and copper exploration project in Eritrea.

The 1,400 metre programme will mainly target the shallow copper oxide mineralisation and help define a JORC-compliant resource , though some of the holes will assess high-grade gold mineralisation. 

Shares were up 12.5% to 0.27p.

Hummingbird Resources (LON:HUM) was not far behind after it upgraded the indicated resource  to 80% of the total at the Tuzon deposit at Dugbe 1 in Liberia following recent in-fill drilling.

Dan Betts, Hummingbird's chief executive, described the results as outstanding and underlined his belief that Dugbe 1 is one of the largest and most robust undeveloped gold projects in Africa.

Shares rose 9% to 52p.

Orosur Mining (LON:OMI) was up over 4% to 15.10p on the back of strong operating results for the third quarter, in which cash costs expectations.

The company said that operational improvements put in place since last May continued to deliver strong production.

Also on the upside was Kefi Minerals (LON:KEFI) after it posted a higher total resource for its Tulu Kapi project just three months after taking it over.

Significantly more gold is now in the indicated category, it said, while the total resource for the project in has increased by 10%. 

Shares added 1% to 1.99p.

Finally, Africa–focused discount airline Fastjet (LON:FJET) saw passenger numbers rise 35% at its Tanzanian hub in February.

Fastjet also said it has increased the size of its Equity Finance Facility with Darwin Strategic to £25mln from £15mln, while talks are underway with a number of potential long term investors.

Shares were 2.2% lower to 1.98p.

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