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UK stocks becalmed

Published: 21:00 21 Mar 2016 AEDT

nigeriaoil

AIM's leading shares opened mixed this morning, mirroring a sclerotic performance by blue-chips.

The FTSE AIM 100 index was off half a point at 3,309. The broader-based FTSE AIM All-Share was up a third of a point at 707.

The difference in performance between the two indices is largely down to Quadrise Fuels International PLC (LON:QFI), which was the worst performer among FTSE AIM 100 constituents, down more than 10% at 12.99p after its half-yearly report.

The provider of a low-cost alternative to fuel oil in the shipping, refining and power generation markets made a loss before tax in the second half of 2015 of £2.35mln, little changed from the loss of £2.21mln in the same period of 2014.

The company ended 2015 with cash reserves of £6.50 million, which it said should be sufficient to carry the group through to sustainable early revenues from its major projects, based on the current programme time scales.

The response to the half-yearly update from FW Thorpe PLC (LON:TFW) was a good deal warmer, with the lighting equipment company's shares 6.5% brighter at 234p.

Revenue in the six months to the end of 2015 was sup 26.8% to £41.4mln, or 5.2% excluding the contribution from its Lightronics acquisition, while pre-tax profit was up 13.7%, or 6.0% on an organic basis, to £6.6mln.

The company said the performance of Lightronics had been ahead of expectations, driven by one-off projects.

Other stocks illumination the small-caps world included Bankers Petroleum Limited (LON:BNK, TSE:BNK) and Bahamas Petroleum Company PLC (LON:BPC).

Bankers soared 84% to 112.5p as it agreed to be taken over by an affiliate of Geo-Jade Petroleum at a price of C$2.20 per share. Bankers' shares closed at C$1.11 in Toronto on Friday, down 3.5%, so the deal appears to have completely blind-sided the market.

Bahamas Petroleum rose by just over a fifth to 2.2p on the back of full-year results that saw the loss-making company commit to delivering more meaningful cost savings for the company, with management leading the way by agreeing to take further fee reductions.

Traders followed the money and dived into NetPlay TV PLC (LON:NPT) as the online casino games operator announced a special dividend on the back of a strong start to 2016.

The shares climbed 13% to 9.75p.

There was good news for Namibia-focused mining project developer North River Resources PLC (LON:NRRP) as further drilling at its flagship Namib lead-zinc project hit high grade mineralisation.

The shares advanced 14.3% to 0.08p.

Medtech firm ANGLE PLC (LON:AGL) jumped 13.5% to 80p as it said it has potentially made a breakthrough in the detection, monitoring and treatment of prostate cancer based on the results of a study by the Barts Cancer Institute.

Combating cancer is the focus of drug developer ValiRx PLC (LON:VAL), which this morning saw its shares slide 12% to 11p after it set up a £4mln convertible loan facility with the privately-owned Bracknor Fund.

The FTSE 100 was up 14 points at 6,203 at 10.00am.

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