Cambridge Index climbs 2.4%

The Cambridge Index advanced 2.4% or 442 points to 18,743, as nine out of the top ten index heavyweights posted weekly gains.

 

BMO Capital Markets restated its “Market Perform” recommendation on ARM Holdings, up 2.5%, with a target price of 1075p. Natixis reiterated its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 1380p. Liberum Capital maintained its “Hold” rating on Johnson Matthey, up 1%, with a target price of 3400p, however AlphaValue reiterated its “Reduce” recommendation on the stock with a target price of 3073p. In its year end trading update, DS Smith, up 7.1%, announced that the group performance has been in line with its expectations, with strong underlying growth more than offsetting the unfavourable foreign exchange movements. The company also mentioned that the market and business trends from earlier update have remained consistent with volume growth in the second half of the year. Further, the company indicated that outlook remains buoyant as the business performs in line with its medium term financial targets. In its trading update, Greene King, up 0.3%, indicated that retail like-for-like sales climbed 0.4% over the year. Like-for-like sales rose 0.8% YTD and climbed 0.7% since 36th week, excluding the impact of the new drink driving legislation in Scotland. The company indicated that Rob Rowley, the Non-Executive Director, will take over the responsibilities of senior independent Director from Ian Durant, who will be retiring from the board in March 2016.

1Spatial, up 27.6%, stated that it has placed 42.4m existing shares and issued 32m new shares at 6p each to Azini Capital Partners LLP. Following the transaction, Azini Capital will hold a 10.9% of the company’s share capital. Jefferies Group increased its target price on Xaar, up 8.8%, to 510p from 330p and maintained its “Buy” recommendation on the stock. SP Angel reiterated its “Buy” rating on Sepura, up 3.8%, with a target price of 170p. JPMorgan Chase upgraded its rating on Cyan Holdings, up 3.6%, to “Neutral” from “Under-weight”. Natixis reiterated its “Neutral” recommendation on CSR, up 0.6%, with a target price of 600p. Canaccord Genuity restated its “Buy” rating on Kier Group, up 0.6%, with a target price of 2000p. Northland Securities maintained its “Buy” rating on Amino Technologies, up 0.4%, with a target price of 150p.

Cambridge Cognition Holdings ended flat at 81p. The company stated that it has filed a new patent application covering ‘systems and methods for assessing cognitive function and symptoms of neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions’ after initiating development activities for near-patient cognitive testing in its Healthcare business unit. Brady, down 0.5%, announced that it has made an application for 38,750 ordinary shares of 1p each to be admitted to trading on AIM. JPMorgan Chase reissued its “Neutral” rating on Abcam, down 0.7%, with a target price of 487p.

UK markets ended mostly firmer last week, after the results of the general election lifted uncertainty with a majority government in Parliament. The FTSE 100 index advanced 0.9% to 7,046.8, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index retreated 0.1% to finish at 3,402.6. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index jumped 3.3% to 3,983.

US markets closed higher in the previous week, after data showed that US non-farm payrolls improved in April and unemployment rate declined last month. The DJIA index added 0.9% to 18,191.1, while the NASDAQ Index remained almost unchanged at 5,003.6.



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