logo-loader

Market movers: Direct Line, Hammerson, Tesco, Sports Direct, Hargreaves Lansdown, Sirius Minerals...

Published: 03:43 25 Sep 2014 EDT

shopping350_5423c92a96bbb

UK shares have opened mixed, despite a strong showing overnight on US markets.

Most of the benefit from the Wall Street advance was taken late yesterday afternoon, when Footsie put on a late spurt to close at 6,706, the level at which it has – give or take a point or two – opened this morning.

Sports Direct’s (LON:SPD) Mike Ashley is at it again, taking a position in an under-pressure retailers.

In a reprise of a move he made on Debenhams, Ashley has taken an option on 23mln Tesco (LON:TSCO) shares, which is essentially a punt on the share price of the supermarket chain recovering.

The move has not exactly lit a bonfire under Tesco’s share price, which is up 0.3%, but it should provide good knockabout copy for the market commentators today.

Insurance group Direct Line (LON:DLG) is wanted after it said it has agreed a sale of its international division. The shares are up 2.6% on news of the selling price: £431mln.

The group is expecting to recognise a pre-tax gain on disposal of around £160 million, most of which will be returned to shareholders, the company said.

Direct Line may be dishing out the dosh to shareholders but property group Hammerson (LON:HMSO) is rattling the collection tin under the noses of City institutions, as it seeks to raise funds to finance the £180mln acquisition of Highcross shopping centre in Leicester.

Hammerson has provisionally placed 71.3mln shares, equivalent to one-tenth of the company’s existing issued share capital. The shares are down 3% at 567p.

Another blue-chip under the cosh is stockbroker and wealth management firm Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HL.), after RBC Capital Markets downgraded it to ‘sector perform’ from ‘market perform’, while leaving the target price unchanged at 1,075p.

Bernstein, meanwhile, has initiated coverage on the stock with an ‘underperform’ rating. The shares are off 3.5% at 930.5p.

Anglo American (LON:AAL) is also out of sorts, down 1.8% at 1,434.5p, after Goldman Sachs issued a note with a ‘sell’ recommendation and a price target of 1,210p.

The appropriately named Sunrise Resources (LON:SRES) is an early riser, up 12.5%, after it acquired an under-explored silver project in Nevada.

Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX), meanwhile, is a morning star, rising 5.9%, after agreeing in principle to establish and formalise a joint venture with the Tanzania Fertilizer Company to blend and distribute polyhalite based fertilizer products in Tanzania and the surrounding region.

The memorandum of understanding between the two companies contains provisions for the negotiation of an offtake agreement to supply up to 500,000 tonnes of polyhalite per annum to be used as required by the joint venture.

Surface Transforms (LON:SCE) accelerates to 10p from 7.75p overnight after unveiling a pre-production contract with an international aerospace system supplier for the supply of its carbon ceramic brake discs onto a US military aircraft.

On the gloomier side of the street, UK Mail (LON:UKM) loses around one-sixth of its value as it reported worsening trading conditions towards the end of the second quarter of its financial year.

BenevolentAI advances novel ulcerative colitis treatment through Phase 1a trial

BenevolentAI (OTC:BAIVF) chief scientific officer Dr Anne Phelan joins Proactive's Stephen Gunnion with positive safety data from the Phase 1a, first-in-human, clinical study of BEN-8744 in healthy volunteers. Phelan explained that BEN-8744 is a potent, selective PD10 inhibitor, uniquely...

28 minutes ago