UK stocks started the week on the back foot with the FTSE 100 index shedding 29 points or 0.4% to 6,998 points by 8.30am, even though US markets hit a new peak on Friday, as weakness in banks offset gains for mining stocks. US markets ended last week at record levels with the S&P 500 index rising 1% to a new high of 4,411 points and the Nasdaq 100 index gaining 1.2% to 15,112 points. In ...

Sometimes investors ignore funds which have accumulated a limited amount of funds from investors, often because they are seen as not having much of a future due to a lack of scale or just because they don’t have the marketing budgets of the big asset managers. However, ignoring these smaller funds could mean neglecting some potentially interesting investment options. VICTIMS OF SUCCESS ...

Shares in non-bank finance provider Duke Royalty (DUKE:AIM) fell 4% to 36.7p after the firm revealed it had sold its investment in a river cruise business for a loss and was simultaneously raising fresh capital. Duke, which normally lends to businesses in exchange for a royalty on their earnings, took the unusual step of taking physical ownership of three Rhine and Danube cruise boats from ...

UK stocks opened lower on Tuesday as Brexit talks seemed to flounder over fishing rights with just days to go before the end of the transition period and oil prices continued to slip on fears of lower demand. Brent crude oil futures dropped almost 2% to $49.90 per barrel while gold slipped to $1,875 per ounce. The pound regained some positive momentum, breaking back above $1.34 despite Brexit ...

London’s FTSE 100 finished Wednesday’s session up a modest 0.3% at 6,575.7 as the pound weakened ahead of prime minister Boris Johnson’s dinner with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to discuss Brexit. UK blue chips were buoyed by rising investor optimism that US lawmakers will strike a new stimulus deal for the world’s largest economy as well as Johnson ...

Shares in alternative financing business Duke Royalty (DUKE:AIM) gained 2.6% to 30.78p after reporting a resilient first-half and re-instating a third-quarter dividend of 0.5p per share. Royalty finance is a £50 billion industry in North America but it remains relatively new in the UK. This possibly gives Duke an advantage as the only UK-quoted royalty company. It effectively provides ...

London’s FTSE 100 traded in positive territory on Wednesday amid rising investor optimism that US lawmakers will strike a new stimulus deal for the world’s largest economy. Blue chips were also buoyed by another bout of good news after Johnson & Johnson notified markets that its single-dose vaccine will complete final trials in January. Keeping a lid on gains however was prevailing ...

London’s FTSE 100 opened 0.5% higher on Wednesday to 6,590.80 amid rising investor optimism that US lawmakers will strike a new stimulus deal for the world’s largest economy. The Trump administration has made a new fiscal stimulus offer of $916 billion to Congressional Democrats, though reports suggest there are still disagreements between the Republicans and Democrats on certain issues ...

With just over 20 years’ investing experience under his belt, Dave from Staffordshire has honed his skills to be able to run a concentrated portfolio entirely out of small, medium and large cap stocks. The 46-year-old public sector worker first began putting money into the markets in 1999. ‘I opened an ISA possibly at the worst time to start investing,’ he says. ‘Fortunately I topped it ...

Alternative finance provider Duke Royalty (DUKE:AIM) delivered an impressive set of half-year results with revenues of £5.9m, more than double last year’s first-half turnover, and net cash inflow from operations of £3.9m or three times last year’s haul of £1.3m. In line with its strategy of paying a high and stable dividend, and reflecting the firm’s rapid growth this year, the ...

UK stocks started the week on the back foot as concerns over corporate earnings started to surface ahead of the third-quarter reporting season. The FTSE 100 index of leading stocks gave up 14 points or 0.2% to 7,139 with Aerospace, Banks, Insurers and Metals Producers lagging. Propping up the index were Healthcare stocks and Oil Producers, the latter thanks to a small bounce in Brent crude ...

Having enjoyed a strong finish on Thursday amid a big slide in sterling, the FTSE 100 softens 54.3 points to 7,301 on Friday as news that the immediate cliff edge for Brexit is being postponed drives a recovery rally in the currency. This is hurting companies deriving a significant chunk of their sales in dollars such as Unilever (ULVR) and British American Tobacco (BATS). Pharmaceuticals ...

Markets are steady at the start of the new week with sterling rising against the euro and US dollar. The FTSE 100 advances 19 points higher to 7,039.2 led by Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) and BP (BP.), which are lifted by a stronger oil price. Belfast-based IT business Kainos (KNOS) sparks up 7.8% to 458p on the very welcome news results for the year to March will be ahead of market ...

Macroeconomic uncertainties, the return of volatility and political turmoil suggest diversification will prove a key investment watchword in 2019. One way in which investors can diversify portfolios is by allocating funds to UK micro caps, often agile and fast-growing minnows offering better value relative to larger caps; they fly under the radar of big institutional investors and are generally ...

Despite all the uncertainty created by Brexit the latest reading from the Quoted Companies Alliance/YouGov Small & Mid-Cap Sentiment index suggests most small and medium-sized companies in the UK are optimistic about 2019. Nearly three quarters of the companies surveyed expect to increase the number of employees in the coming 12 months and 47% are looking to raise capital over the same time ...

Traditionally when a company needs financing but wants to retain control of its fortunes there are limited options available to it. Bank loans are probably the most popular but high street banks are still cautious in lending small to medium size enterprises (SMEs) cash despite government initiatives aimed at boosting business. Step in Duke Royalty (DUKE:AIM) which lends businesses money in ...

Have you ever been frustrated at not being able to participate in discounted share placings or IPOs (initial public offerings)? If so, we’ve spotted a potential solution in the form of a UK equity fund which only makes investments in these circumstances. The fund in question is MFM UK Primary Opportunities Fund (GB00B8HGN522). Being able to buy discounted shares doesn’t necessarily mean ...