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Footsie sidles lower

Published: 04:11 09 Oct 2014 AEDT

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UK investors appeared to have other things on their mind as shares gently drifted lower.

In the US, the central bank’s policy-making committee is set to release the minutes from its most recent meeting, which could have a big effect on sentiment, while back in Blighty, we are just hours away from the start of voting in two by-elections, one of which is likely to see the first UKIP candidate elected to parliament.

The FTSE 100 closed down 13 points at 6,482.

Engineer GKN (LON:GKN) was one of the big fallers, down 3.5%, after Merrill Lynch moved to an ‘underperform’ position from a ‘buy’ recommendation.

In contrast, Tesco (LON:TSCO) was up 1.3%, after HSBC abandoned its ‘underweight’ position on the slumping supermarket and moved to a neutral stance.

Among the mid-caps, FirstGroup (LON:FGP) reversed 4.9% after it lost the Scotrail franchise to Dutch group Abelio.

Outside the top tier, investment company Worthington Group (LON:WRN) pulled out of a mini-slump, shooting up 23% after it said it is making excellent progress in its key investment areas.

Biofrontera’s (LON:B8F) recent meeting with the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) went very well, the company reported.

Shares surged 9.2% as the FDA gave the green light for new drug applications for Biofrontera’s key products, Ameluz and BF-RhodoLED.

Things are not so rosy for the similarly named iron ore minnow London Mining (LON:LOND), which lost three-quarters of its stock market value as the company revealed that refinancing options currently being considered are likely to leave the shares more or less worthless.

Last week, the group admitted it didn't have the funds to carry on operating the Marampa iron mine without raising more money, and was looking for a strategic investor.

The firm wants a strategic investor to fund the life of mine expansion and a cash injection to allow the mine to continue operating.

Also taking a dive was New World Oil (LON:NEW), down by 41% on yet another delay in the cash injection from Niel Petroleum, which is waiting on joint venture partner Al Maram Group to stump up some readies.

AFC Energy (LON:AFC) shares fell by a quarter to 10.125p as the company announced a significant new funding package entailing the issue of shares at 10p each.

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