London’s FTSE 100 traded 0.3% lower at 7,214.80 points by midday on Monday, extending its earlier losses, as investors reacted to weak Chinese growth announced overnight. China’s gross domestic product grew at a relatively measly 4.9% in the September quarter amid supply bottlenecks and property developer Evergrande’s woes. Moreover, property construction in China continued its decline ...

Shares in online gambling software supplier Playtech (PTEC) surged 55% to 667p on Monday after it said it had agreed terms to be acquired by Australian gaming company Aristocrat for 680p in cash. The price represents a 58.4% premium on Friday’s closing price and a 60% premium to the volume weighted average price over the last three-months. The acquisition values Playtech at £2.1 billion on a ...

Shares in aquaculture firm Benchmark (BMK:AIM) jumped 13% to 64.5p on higher than average volume after the company said full year operating profits would be ‘significantly ahead of market expectations’. Following a strong third quarter, which saw sales up 25% driven by a rise in demand across all three divisions, the fourth quarter to the end of September saw continued strong momentum ...

Shares in fast-moving consumer products maker Supreme (SUP:AIM) improved 7.7% to 195p as investors applauded a positive first half trading update from the batteries, vaping and vitamins supplier. Margins have proved ‘particularly strong’, enabling the Manchester-headquartered group to generate ‘significant’ year-on-year growth in profitability, while the in-house manufacture of key ...

The UK equity market started Monday’s trading session on a negative note, as the market digested the implications of third quarter Chinese economic growth slowing at a faster rate than had been anticipated. In the third quarter, the Chinese economy grew by 4.9% year on year, versus an anticipated 5.2%. Moreover property construction in China continued its decline and factory output recorded ...

With a boost from mining and energy stocks, London’s FTSE 100 finished Friday’s trading session 0.37% to the good at 7,234.03 points, pulling back from an intra-day pandemic-era peak despite a strong open on Wall Street. In the face of a barrage of media coverage surrounding price hikes and supply logjams, the more domestically focused FTSE 250 index still managed to end the week on a ...

London’s FTSE 100 index hit a new high for the year of 7,242 points in early trading on Friday, leaving the UK market at a higher level than at any of its closing prices year to date. Just before noon, those gains had eased back a bit, but the blue chip benchmark still traded 0.3% ahead at 7,228.84. The strong finish to the week followed a positive overnight performance in the US, and in ...

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATURE Nitesh Shah Director of Research at WisdomTree The European Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), the European marketplace for the trading of carbon emission allowances and the EU’s market-based solution to climate change, already sits as the centrepiece of the EU’s strategy on limiting climate change[1]. In June 2021, the EU adopted a European ...

UK-listed airline stocks enjoyed a widespread rally in early trading on Friday as the UK government announced a further easing of overseas travel restrictions. The new rules will allow fully vaccinated travellers to take cheaper lateral flow tests rather than the more expensive PCR tests on their return to England and Wales – Scotland has its own regulations. This is for all countries not on ...

In the past month, 10-year UK government bond yields have jumped from below 0.75% to almost 1.25% as investors have begun to factor in the possibility the Bank of England could raise rates sooner rather than later to head off stubbornly high inflation. The latest official consumer price index from the Office for National Statistics showed costs including housing jumped by 3% in the 12 months to ...