Britain's small-cap equity indexes edge higher in early session trade,performing broadly in line with the blue-chips.
The FTSE Small Cap Index is up by 0.1 percent and the FTSE AIM AllShare Index rises 0.2 percent, with the blue-chip FTSE 100 index advancing 0.1 percent while the FTSE 250 mid-cap index - which hitrecord highs this month - gains 0.4 percent.
Chariot Oil & Gas jumps up by 20 percent, after the company signsa farm-out agreement with a unit of Cairn Energy Plc CNE.L for a 35 percentstake in its Mauritania licence.
"(The) farm-out deal with Cairn demonstrates Chariot is significantlyundervalued and underlines the premium industry will pay for high-potentialexploration acreage," FinnCap analyst Will Arnstein writes in a note.
Aquarius Platinum rises 1.2 percent after reporting that it hasmanaged to narrow its losses.
Panmure Gordon analyst Alison Turner describes Aquarius Platinum's resultsas being broadly in line with market expectations, and keeps a "buy" rating onthe stock.
21st Century Technology Plc slumps 44 percent after the company,which supplies public transport CCTV and other monitoring systems, expects itssecond-half revenues to now be lower than previously forecast following are-assessment of its order book.
Reuters messaging rm://sudip.kargupta.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net