On a pretty quiet day for corporate news the FTSE 100 is down a little to 7,414,14.Mobile telecoms giant Vodafone (VOD) ticks up 0.4% to 212p as it inks a $23bn deal to merge its Indian unit with rival Idea Cellular. The transaction would create one of the world's largest mobile companies with more than 400 million users.Facilities manager Carillion (CLLN) is flat at 223.6p despite winning a...

London stocks surge in early trade on Wednesday after a dovish US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen last night reiterated the need for interest-rate caution. Miners and oil majors form the vanguard at the head of the FTSE leader board, the UK blue-chip index charging 85 points, or about 1.4%, higher to 6,192.US equipment rental play Ashtead (AHT), up 2.4% to 871p, is among a number of...

Dubbed 'micro caps' by investors, the London stock market's smallest quoted company fry can be binary bets, as likely to 'turn turtle' as morph into a 'ten-bagger', the latter the holy grail of growth company investing. Yet despite their inherent risks, micro caps should form at least a portion of a well-diversified portfolio, since they offer potential for rapid-paced growth and abundant...

London markets make a cautious start to trade early on Thursday ahead of a key policy meeting of the European Central Bank. In early deals the FTSE 100 nudges 10 points higher to 6,928, barely 1% off the potentially significant 7,000 mark. Midcaps are stronger, the FTSE 250 rallying around 80 points, or 0.5%, to 17,219.Life insurer Aviva (AV.) heads the blue-chip leader board as the shares...

Sydney, Australia-based technology developer CAP-XX (CPX:AIM) is small. Very small. It's currently valued at £6.6 million, and that's after today's 8% share price hike to 7.62p. It designs and makes thin, prismatic supercapacitors that are used to maximise energy efficiency in electronic devices.This is cutting edge stuff, and forward-thinking. Ecologically we are all being urged to use less...