London’s blue chip index trades marginally lower at 6,960 in a fairly directionless trading session.

One of the few businesses to report results today, tech outfit Micro Focus (MCRO) leads the gainers, up 6.1% to £22.60, as underlying profit margins expanded and the benefits of over $500m (£394m) of acquisitions in the last six months acquisitions flowed through to its bottom line. Excluding acquisitions, like-for-like revenue growth was fairly pedestrian at 1.2%.

Banks feature at the top and bottom of the blue chip leaderboard, with Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) up 1.3% and Barclays (BARC) down 1.7%.

Trading in miners is also choppy with precious metals producer Polymetal (POLY) up 3.4% to 783p while copper play Antofagasta (ANTO) dips 1.9% to 715p.

Micro cap lender Tungsten (TUNG:AIM) reports a 20% increase in revenue for the six months to 31 October and says losses declined by £15.5m to £4.5m as its push to profitability continues.

Chief executive Richard Hurwitz says a sale of its banking unit, needed to help fund the fintech outfit’s losses, is on course to complete within a week. Shares trade 4.9% higher at 54p.

Litigation funder Burford Capital (BUR:AIM) gains 12.5% to 540p as it agrees to buy Gerchen Keller for $160m, a law-focused investment manager with $1.3bn assets under management.

E-tailer Boohoo (BOO:AIM) adds 8.0% to 128p on upgraded sales guidance for the year to 29 February and an acquisition. Chairman Peter Williams full-year sales are now likely to gain around 40%, up from between 30% and 35%. Boohoo is also buying 66% of accessories website Pretty Little Thing for £3.3m.

Disclosure: The author owns shares in Lloyds Banking Group.

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Issue Date: 14 Dec 2016