(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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AstraZeneca, up 4.3%, Hikma, up 4.0% and GlaxoSmithKline, 2.6% higher. Pharmaceutical firms, often touted as defensive stocks, were on the up early on Wednesday following a volatile start for the FTSE 100 amid a tight and hard-to-call US election result. A "blue wave" sweep by Democrats might have brought more regulation for the pharmaceutical industry.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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HSBC and Standard Chartered, down 3.4% and 5.2%. The two banking stocks were at the FTSE 100 on Wednesday morning, amid the political tensions in the US, giving back gains from Tuesday when they closed 4.3% higher and 3.9% higher, respectively.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Royal Mail, up 8.0%. The postal service provider surged after JPMorgan raised the stock to Overweight from Neutral.
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Marks & Spencer, up 4.8%. The retailer's interim performance was better than expected, despite swinging to a pretax loss of GBP87.6 million from a GBP158.8 million profit. Revenue for the six months to September declined 16% to GBP4.09 billion from GBP4.86 billion a year before.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Stobart Group, up 9.4%. The logistics, energy and aviation firm was hit by a reduction in passenger travel at Southend Airport. Revenue in the six months ended August dropped 29% to GBP53.2 million from GBP74.8 million, and Stobart's pretax loss ballooned to GBP77.4 million from GBP15.5 million. The company however, affirmed that it "remains focused on exiting Stobart Air" and is in talks with parties to dispose of its stake.
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Wishbone Gold, up 70%. The exploration firm said that geological consultants Terra Search spotted four magnetic targets, covering a total of 2.4 kilometres by 400 metres, at the Patersons Range gold project in Australia. Wishbone added that it has completed due diligence to acquire the project and will now move towards closing the acquisition.
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Gattaca, up 37%. The engineering and technology recruitment services firm said revenue slipped 15% in the year ended July 31 to GBP538.7 million from GBP634.3 million. Pretax profit fell 57% to GBP1.4 million from GBP3.4 million. But notes it will carry out an improvement plan which will see its Technology unit restructured. Adds that it will deliver GBP4 million in annual savings from costs during the year to November.
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CPL Resources, up 34% to 951.50 pence. The Dublin-based human resources firm has accepted a EUR317.8 million takeover from Outsourcing, a Tokyo-listed HR services provider. The EUR11.25 per share offer is a 36% premium to CPL closing price on Tuesday.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Tern, down 10%. The internet of things-focused investor announced a GBP860,000 investment to take a 23% stake in Talking Medicines, a provider of AI and machine learning services to the pharmaceutical industry.
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By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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