London's FTSE 100 is bouncing back today, moving 90.52 points higher to 6,503.5 as strong Chinese factory data buoys miners including Vedanta Resources (VED), up 2.7% at £19.93, Anglo American (AAL), 3.9% ahead at £15.35 and Rio Tinto (RIO), 3.9% higher at £30.27. A delay in potential US military action against Syria and excitement surrounding telecoms firm Vodafone's (VOD) imminent deal to sell its US wireless business are also boosting appetite for equities.
Aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce (RR.) gains 1.3% to £11.26 as it announces the ?293 million sale of its 50% interest in the RTM322 helicopter engine programme to Turbomeca, a subsidiary of French peer Safran (SAF:PA). The growth potential in Rolls-Royce's business is primarily built on selling its Trent engines into wide-body jets as we explore in more detail here. The RRTM Adour engine programme, which powers the Hawk and Jaguar aircraft, is unaffected by this deal, as are the other helicopter engine programmes in the Rolls-Royce portfolio.
FTSE 100 explorer Tullow Oil (TLW) ticks up 1.6% to £10.24 despite the announcement of a disappointing result from its Buzio-1 well off the coast of Mozambique. The well will be plugged and abandoned as a dry hole.
Housebuilder Berkeley (BKG) puts on 3% at £21.81 as investors welcome another confident trading statement from the £2.8 billion cap. Read our in-depth analysis here.
Bid hopes seem to be reappearing at satellite operator Inmarsat (ISAT), up 4.7% today at 727.5p, a level some 19% above June's lows. But so-called sequestration continues to hang over the group as recent interims showed.
Profit takers swoop on printhead technology developer Xaar (XAR) after last week's very good interim results. The shares fall 6% to 765p, for a 12% retreat since the figures, but the stock has soared 173% year-to-date, so in this context the slide looks understandable. Shares flagged the stock's potential bang on a year back at 228p (see page six of PDF).
Drug delivery specialist Consort Medical (CSRT) improves 1% to 833p following a positive market missive. The £245 million cap, a running Play of the Week, is trading in-line with expectations and the board is confident for the full year with several product launches scheduled in the next 12 months.
Franchised off-licence and convenience chain Conviviality Retail (CVR:AIM) adds 1.5p at 151p today on news of the acquisition of wine, spirits and tobacco seller Wine Rack. Investors toast a tie-up which accelerates the £86.7 million cap's expansion into the wine market whilst simultaneously adding scale in the key London market. Read our in-depth analysis of the deal here.
Deal-hungry Vertu Motors (VTU:AIM) puts on 0.25p at 52.75p on another encouraging trading update. Ahead of half-year results to August, the £174 million cap flags ongoing year-on-year profit growth from new and used car sales in favourable market conditions as well as vehicle servicing, helped by higher levels of customer retention.
Vaccine and novel cancer drug company Xenetic BioSciences (XEN:AIM) rises 2% to 6.6p as it commences screening patients to test its haemodialysis-chronic kidney disease (HD-CKD) treatment ErepoXen. The £26.5 million cap aims to recruit 40 patients for the Phase I/II study in India to give Xenetic the clinical data to develop products to compete in a $7.2 billion market.
Real estate investment trust Redefine International (RDI) rises 1.4% to 43.3p as investors welcome the purchase of three shopping centres in Germany for ?31.4 million in cash and the issue of 32.2 million shares at 40p-a-pop.
Seeing Machines (SEE:AIM) jumps nearly 10% to 4.38p after its Driver State System (DSS) passed tests with mining giant BHP Billiton (BLT). That will lead to full A$1.5 million deployment of kit across over 100 trucks. Investors are taking a very different view over the £21 million microcap, as Shares highlighted last month.
Security technology minnow Starcom (STAR:AIM) shoots up 20% to 23p as the market anticipates positive interim results in the next couple of weeks. Fresh from a recent Watchlock deal hopes are running high across the market despite possible liquidity issues with the shares, as Shares spelled out in June.
The main image is reproduced with the permission of Rolls-Royce plc, copyright © Rolls-Royce plc 2012
