09:01 — Croda and Flowtech jump on H1 growth as Barclays' fall holds at -4.52%
Looking aaing at the mornng's notable stories . . .
Croda International (LSE:CRDA) added 2.87% to 3009p, after its half-year results confirmed unchanged full-year guidance alongside what the company calls "transformation and innovation-led growth."
Flowtech Fluidpower (AIM:FLO) was up 6.78% to 63p after group reported revenue jumped 23.7% to £70.4m in H1, with like-for-like growth of 13.2% and acquisitions adding to the total. The company says trading came in line with board expectations.
Pebble Beach Systems (AIM:PEB) climbed 5.71% to 25.9p on a trading update showing H1 revenue up 10% to around £6.5m, with project revenue ahead 19% on favourable software licence timing.
Oxford BioDynamics (AIM:OBD) extended its advance to 21.75% after signing its first commercial agreement for the EpiSwitch Orion genomics platform, covering a biomarker discovery programme in psoriatic arthritis.
Barclays (LSE:BARC) holds its loss at 506.4p, down 4.52%.
08:21 — FTSE 100 opens higher, but Barclays a notable faller
The FTSE 100 opened slightly higher, edging up to 10,796, up 0.14%, with the index still trailing the 10,826.9 indicative level and breadth close to even at 52 risers against 42 fallers.
Barclays (LSE:BARC) is a standout mover, down 4.66% to 505.7p, after its half-year results, which at face value were deemed "a beat" in terms of income and profit, supported by investment banking activities.
Elsewhere, Man Group (LSE:EMG) was a notable riser, up 4.23% to 312.7p and a fresh 52-week high, after posting record assets under management of $253.6 billion at the end of June, up from $227.6 billion in December, alongside $7.1 billion of net inflows and a 46% rise in core management fee earnings per share.
Smaller-cap names carry the sharpest moves. Oxford BioDynamics jumped 21.75% after signing its first commercial deal for the EpiSwitch Orion platform, while Ajax Resources has dropped 21.03% on its proposed asset swap.
Premier African Minerals was down 12.63% as its Zulu plant restart remained on hold.
Tern climbed 11.19% after upping its Talking Medicines stake, and Flowtech Fluidpower (AIM:FLO) was also higher, up 6.78%, after reporting 23.7% revenue growth to £70.4 million for H1.
06:45 — FTSE 100 called lower ahead of Tuesday's close
The FTSE 100 is seen softer ahead of Tuesday's open, with IG's early pre-market quote marked at 10,764.9, down 37 points from Monday's close.
It comes against a backdrop of easing Middle East tensions, with a pause in the US-Iran standoff feeding through to a fall in oil prices.
Brent crude remained softer, at $85.50, roughly flat in early trade after Monday's declines.
Wall Street closed mixed on Monday as investors weighed tech earnings: the Dow added 0.42% to 52,164.7, the S&P 500 was essentially flat at 7,410.27, down 0.02%, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.19% to 24,929.06.
Behind the moves was turmoil in chip stocks and big tech, with growing worries over China's AI challenge.
In particular, flags in recent days included China's memory-chip IPO boom, and, closer to home, concern over circular AI financing deals.
In the market, there was a 5% fall in Nvidia's stock price, and a spike in the chip maker's credit default swaps.
That pressure sits behind the softer indicated pricing on the Nasdaq 100, marked down 1.19% at 27705.0 ahead of the open, a sharper indicated retreat than either the S&P 500 (-0.31% indicated) or Dow (+0.09% indicated).
Overnight, in Asia, equity markets saw a rough session, with Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbling 4.11% to 62,259.36.
Gold extended its retreat, down 0.97% to $4,037, whilst the dollar index sat little changed at 101.548, and cable is indicated at 1.3287, down 0.02%.
Bitcoin was on the back foot at $63,482.88, down 0.35%, whilst Ethereum was off 0.21% at $1,886.62.
