London stock markets chalked-up the worst weekly performance since the 2008 financial crisis despite clawing back a fraction of lost territory in Friday trading as earlier strength flagged.The benchmark FTSE 100 index closed 2.5% up at 5,366.11 on Friday, cementing a near 18% weekly loss, the biggest since a 21% drop in October 2008. That slump made it the third week running of heavy declines as f

UK markets staged a firm rally in early trading on Monday, following Asian markets higher and clawing back some of the heavy losses chalked-up last week.At 9am, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was up close on 2.7% at 6,756.35, while the mid cap FTSE 250 is also around 2.5% higher at 19,803.06.However, by midday those gains had been entirely wiped out with the FTSE 100 dipping 0.5% to 6,546.61. The FT

London's blue chip index trades 35.9 points higher to 6,883.09 in early trading on Thursday. The markets have been buoyed by imports into China increasing in August for the first time in two years.Investors also anticipate the European Central Bank increasing its QE programme later on Thursday after the region was been hit by disappointing service and manufacturing figures of late.In corporate new

The ability of micro cap stocks to deliver super-sized returns in super quick time is exemplified by Catalyst Media (CMX:AIM).The £12.3 million cap's main asset is a 20.5% stake in provider of broadcasting services to bookies Satellite Information Services (SIS) and it is up 63.9% in the space of a week to 50p after SIS secured (23 Sep) a new five year deal with Racecourse Media commencing April

The make or break vote in Greece's parliament on its new bailout agreement that could keep them in the eurozone has made investors nervous sending the FTSE 100 down 14 points to 6,739. The market also falls despite better-than-expected 7% second quarter growth in China, as investors appear more concerned with government policy towards the market.The index was also hit by disappointing news from so

There are two main types of oil and gas exploration. Frontier or wild cat drilling means spudding a well in a location where the potential is untested and there are still potentially massive finds to be made. The alternative is to drill in a mature region close to proven discoveries where the finds may be smaller but the risks are also lower.Historically AIM-quoted Tower Resources (TRP:AIM) has co

The market ends the week on a sour note with a 1.4% drop in the FTSE 100 to 6,373.49, with a further fall in the oil price depressing investor sentiment. Power station giant Drax (DRX) slumps 10.4% to 506p after the Department for Energy & Climate proposes changes to biomass subsidies which could be negative for the utilities group.Large cap water utilities Severn Trent (SVT) and United Utilities

Investors were confronted by renewed volatility this autumn reflected in the performance of the UK's headline index. Nudging year highs above 6,900 in early September the FTSE 100 collapsed to less than 6,200 in mid-October as worries about global economic growth dominated the agenda before recovering to the 6,600 mark as sentiment improved.The good news is there are two main ways of profiting fro

UK stocks are on the front foot for the fourth day running on Tuesday as a string of disappointing economic data from Asia prompts stimulus calls. The FTSE 100 rallies 30 points, or 0.4%, at 6,702 in early deals. It has not closed above this level since 24 September when it settled at 6,706.27.Royal Mail (RMG) heads the blue-chip leader board in early trade, the stock 17.5p higher, or 3.7%, at 485

In our search for challenger companies we turn the spotlight on the Oil & Gas industry this week. The majors are auctioning off assets fast with Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) selling most of its stake in Aussie producer Woodside Petroleum (WPL:ASX) for $5.7 billion on 18 June. And with the incumbents retrenching, the emerging companies in this space are likely to take one of three main routes to crack

The dangers of concentrated exposure to oil and gas exploration are demonstrated in spades today as Tower Resources' (TRP:AIM) Welwitschia-1A well, offshore Namibia, fails to undercover hydrocarbons. The shares collapse by 62.9% to 1.08p, slashing the market cap from £109 million yesterday to barely £40 million today.The results from the highly anticipated well on the Delta prospect are the just

Britain's house builders come under selling pressure as the market takes fright of Chancellor George Osborne's plans to hand the Bank of England stronger powers to curb mortgage lending and curb house price bubble threats. Persimmon (PSN) leads the fallers, down 4.7% to £12.41, leading the FTSE 100 losers board, while Barratt Developments (BDEV) is another big slider, shedding 4.1% to 354p.The Ir

Multi-utility services supplier Telecom Plus (TEP) gets investors excited again with pleasing full-year results showing 500,000 customers break-through, pre-tax profits up 25% and a 13% payout hike. There's even a Terry Wogan marketing film, driving the shares 11% higher to £15.17.Breathing disease specialist Vectura (VEC) improves 2.9% to 131.2p as its pre-tax losses are slashed by more than hal

Russian steelmaker Evraz (EVR) rises 7.6% to 84.95p as investors focus on large cost savings despite group financial losses ballooning to $572 million. There's a new, stricter dividend policy from the former FTSE 100 constituent that will see the shareholders only get cash when the net debt to EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) ratio falls below three times. 'Reg

Oil explorer Tower Resources (TRP:AIM) slumps 19.7% to 3.76p as it announcesa heavily-discounted £19.3 million placing to fund drilling offshore Namibia and a £19 million paper-based acquisition of privately-owned Rift Petroleum.It is fair to say today's announcement from the £105 million cap contains plenty for investors to chew over. The new shares are to be placed at 3.5p and the injection o

The events in Syria are a good prompt to revisit the oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) sector, whose mainly Aim-quoted contingent remains in the doldrums following a laggard performance since 2012.Tight supply conditions in the global crude market resulting from militia activity in Libya, which has forced the closure of oil terminals and oilfields in what is a major energy exporter, had

Gold is back on the move again, rising above $1,300 per ounce and taking gold mining equities along for the ride. Fresnillo (FRES) rises 5.3% to £10.84; Polymetal (POLY) advances 5% to 627p; and African Barrick Gold (ABG) moves 4.9% higher to 111.9p.Baby products retailer Mothercare (MTC) is up 3.1% to 480.75p. The reason is not because there's a royal baby on the way but rather reports Mothercar