With many trading desks deserted in the run-up to the New Year volumes are light amid the expected dearth of corporate news in early trade on Friday. In the final trading day of 2016 the blue-chip FTSE 100 index staggers around 24 points lower, or roughly 0.3%, to 7,096, having closed at a record 7,120.26 on Thursday, boosted by precious metals miners such as Fresnillo (FRES) and Randgold Resources (RRS), as gold prices advanced.
On the commodities front, oil prices tick higher after data from the US Energy Information Administration showed crude inventories rose by 614,000 barrels in the week to 23 December, compared with expectations for a 1.2m barrel contraction. West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude were up around 0.4% to $53.99 and $57.10 a barrel, respectively.
In thin corporate news, property developer Hammerson (HMSO) inches 0.5% higher at 566p after saying it will sell its 50% stake in the Watermark leisure and dining site, near the Westquay shopping centre in Southampton, to GIC, the Singapore sovereign wealth fund in a £48.5m deal.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) dips 0.2% to 223.2p following reports that small investors in the bank are pushing for it to set up a shareholder committee to give them a bigger say in areas such as executive pay.
In smaller company news, a drilling update at its Bougouni lithium project lights a fire under the share price of Kodal Minerals (KOD:AIM), the stock surging 50% to 0.19p. That includes an upgrade to its rock chip quality findings boosting excitement from investors, although the company remains a tiddler, valued at barely more than £11m.
Clean energy technology design hopeful Inspirit Energy (INSP:AIM) narrows losses and reports progress in developing its own micro combined heat and power (mCHP) boiler unit. In the year to 30 September the pre-revenue company reports that its loss after tax narrowed by nearly 20% to £458,000, year-on-year. However, that's slower progress than investors were hoping for and the share price is marked 18% lower at 0.16p, valuing the business at barely £1.5m.
