FTSE 100 fails to gain traction; IAG hit as travel bridges collapse and JP Morgan downgrades

FTSE 100 index sheds 16 points Manufacturing data eyed Travel stocks suffer 8.55am: Footsie falls The FTSE 100 defied early predictions of a positive start to the new trading week and month as it nudged into negative territory and below the 6,000-mark. The blue-chip share index opened 16 points lower at 5,947.97. While Asia’s main markets were buoyed by stronger than expected manufacturing data from China, here in the UK prices reacted to the latest blow to international travel. British Airways owner IAG (LON:IAG), down 5%, was hardest hit as it looked increasingly likely that Portugal would be added to Britain’s now-extensive quarantine list. JP Morgan Cazenove ladled on the agony for the airline, which is also in a stand-off with the unions, by downgrading the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘overweight’. Rolls Royce (LON:RR.), whose fortunes are linked to the airline industry, was down 3.8%. On the up was silver miner Fresnillo (LON:FRES), ahead 3.2% as its shares tracked the gold's ascent back towards US$2,000 an ounce.   Sticking with the diggers, Glencore (LON:GLEN), up 2.5%, and copper giant Antofagasta (LON:ANTO), 1.5% higher, were boosted by China’s latest economic update. Proactive news headlines: Kodal Minerals PLC (LON:KOD) has lined up a collaboration agreement with Chinese engineering firm Sinohydro to work on the company’s Bougouni lithium project in southern Mali. The two parties have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work together to develop the project. Sinohydro is a subsidiary of state-owned PowerChina. It has undertaken a number of large and high-profile engineering and construction projects in Mali and continues to be active in large government infrastructure projects and private commercial developments. Location Sciences Group PLC (LON:LSAI) revealed it has signed up the first customer to its Verify Audience platform. InMarket, a US company specialising in consumer activity intelligence, will use the marketing tool to verify local audiences and campaigns across different media channels.  Verify allows brands, agencies and suppliers to validate the real-time locations of mobile devices as digital advertising campaigns are delivered. AFC Energy PLC (LON:AFC) revealed it has secured a contract for the sale of a bespoke 100 kilowatt H-Power alkaline fuel cell system to Forschungszentrum Jülich, one of Europe’s largest research centres, for deployment at its Living Lab Energy Campus (LLEC) showcase in Germany. The AIM-listed hydrogen power technology specialist said the initial transaction value of the deal also comes with additional trailing payments receivable under a long term services agreement over the life of the project. The LLEC is funded predominantly by the German government and is designed to provide a blueprint for sustainable, decentralised and integrated smart infrastructure with an emphasis on renewable and hydrogen technologies. CentralNic Group PLC (LON:CNIC) has reported higher earnings and “record organic growth” in the first half of its current year despite the coronavirus pandemic. For the six months ended June 30, 2020, the internet domain name specialist reported adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) of US$15.1mln, up 64% year-on-year, while revenues surged by 124% to US$111.3mln. The company said it has seen “healthy demand” for its two largest service lines, wholesale domains and monetisation, during the period, with the latter driven by the rollout of its patented monetisation solution for secure socket layers (SSL), protocols for web browsers and servers that allow for the authentication, encryption and decryption of data sent over the internet. Eden Research PLC (LON:EDEN) said its collaboration partner has won authorisation from the Spanish authorities for the biopesticide, Cedroz. The product, which has been developed to tackle infestations of microscopic, soil-dwelling parasites called nematodes, has been approved for both glasshouse and open field uses on tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, strawberries and melons, as well as glasshouse use on peppers and aubergine. It will be sold by the Eastman Chemical Company and is Eden’s second crop protector to receive the regulatory green light in Spain. A key territory, the country is the largest producer of fruit and veg in the EU. Frontier IP Group PLC (LON:FIPP) has said one of its portfolio companies is to launch a patent reader product commercially. Elute Intelligence Holdings Limited, in which the intellectual property commercialisation specialist has a 43.5% equity stake, is to bring the product to market after a successful pilot with a dedicated user group comprising members from multinationals, high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises and professional intellectual property service providers. The patent reader allows users to identify relevant patents and understand why they are relevant within minutes of starting a search. BlueRock Diamonds PLC (LON:BRD) said a 12.12 carat diamond recovered from its Kareevlei diamond mine in South Africa in July has been valued at US$104,000. "This is our fifth diamond recovered with a value of above US$100,000. Now that we are operating in pure Kimberlite again following the development of KV Main we expect an increasing incidence of higher value diamonds", BlueRock executive chairman Mike Houston said in a statement. Immotion Group PLC (LON:IMMO) said trading has “continued to be encouraging” across its sites that have operated over the summer period. In a trading update, the ‘out-of-home’ virtual reality firm noted that it currently has 16 partner sites operating its attractions, and has also traded at four of the ImmotionVR sites throughout the summer. The ImmotionVR sites have all traded strongly and have generated a profitable contribution despite limited opening times, the company said, noting that whilst visitor numbers are “generally down” in its partner sites due to coronavirus-related restrictions, average revenue per headset has been “encouraging” despite the lower footfall. Avation PLC (LON:AVAP), the aircraft leasing company, has played down the impact of Virgin Australia going into administration. Avation had a total of 13 aircraft on lease to Virgin Australia when it entered administration. These included six ATR72-500 aircraft, five ATR72-600 aircraft and two Fokker 100 jet aircraft. Since the airline went into administration, Avation said it has entered into new lease arrangements for five of these aircraft, including finance leases for the sale of the two Fokker 100 aircraft, operating leases for two ATR 72-500s with a new airline customer in Australia and a five-year operating lease for an ATR72-500 aircraft with a new airline customer in Asia. The three remaining ATR72-500s have been returned to Avation and are now undergoing maintenance. San Leon Energy PLC (LON:SLE) has agreed to a new US$7.5mln investment into the Oza oil field, in Nigeria, via a loan agreement with Decklar Petroleum, a subsidiary of Asian Mineral Resources (CVE:ASN). Decklar has a risk service agreement with Millenium Oil and Gas, giving it a majority share of production and cash flow from the Oza field - which was historically operated by Shell, between 1959 and 1974, albeit despite two periods of extended production tests it never reached commercial-scale production. The agreement sees San Leon take a 15% interest in Decklar initially, potentially rising to 30% with a further subscription alongside the subsequent funding. San Leon will be allocated one seat on the board of Decklar.  Metal Tiger PLC (LON:MTR) said it has invested around £165,000 for a 0.5% stake in Canyon Resources Limited (ASX:CAY), an Australian-listed firm focused on developing the Minim Martap bauxite project in Cameroon. The AIM-listed investment company said it subscribed for 3mln shares in Canyon at a price of A$0.10 each as part of Canyon’s fundraise of A$10mln. In a separate announcement, Metal Tiger also said it has signed a binding commitment to invest a further A$150,000 (£82,748) in Pan Asia Metals Limited, taking its total commitment to A$650,000 (£358,576), for 3.25mln new shares at A$0.20 each as part of Pan Asia’s proposed initial public offering (IPO) on the ASX. Assuming Pan Asia raises the maximum contemplated amount of A$6mln (£3.3mln) through its IPO, Metal Tiger said it will hold just over 8% of the company on admission to the ASX. Landore Resources Ltd (LON:LND) told investors that a new drill programme is slated to start in October at the BAM Gold Deposit, Junior Lake property, in Canada. The programme is expected to comprise 14,000 metres, is fully funded and is intended to complete in March. It will involve resource and extension drilling, it will test the depth potential and evaluate an exploration target. SigmaRoc PLC (LON:SRC), the quarrying and building materials group, has said it will acquire the remaining 60% it does not already own of South Wales-based GDH. The consideration is £7.5mln,  to be funded by cash, with completion expected on or around September. SigmaRoc noted that it expects the acquisition to be significantly earnings enhancing. GDH operates 17 production facilities producing asphalt, concrete and including a wharf operation, as well as four road contracting units. Pan African Resources plc (LON:PAF), the South Africa-based gold miner, said its underlying earnings per share for the year to end-June, 2020, will be at least 87% higher than a year ago. Headline earnings for the year will be between 2.23 US cents and 2.35 US cents, against 1.19 US cents in 2019. Reported earnings will rise to between 2.20 US cents and 2.40 US cents compared to 1.97 US cents per share for the previous year. Pan African also announced the appointment of Peel Hunt as its nominated adviser with immediate effect. Prior to their appointment, Peel Hunt was joint corporate broker to the company and will remain so going forward, the group added. Chesnara PLC (LON:CHES) confirmed that, following its announcement on November 22, 2019, in connection with the proposed acquisition of the Dutch insurance portfolio of Belgian-owned Argenta Bank-en Verzekeringsgroep N.V,, all remaining conditions precedent to the completion of the acquisition have now been fulfilled. Genel Energy PLC (LON:GENL) announced that payments have been received from the Kurdistan Regional Government for oil sales during July 2020. The Taq Taq partners have received a gross payment of $4.7mln, with Genel's net share of the payment being $2.6mln. The Tawke partners have received a gross payment of $35.8mln, with Genel's net share of the payment being $8.7mln. Tower Resources PLC (LON:TRP) said it has raised monies to cover working capital while the company finalises funding arrangements for the drilling of the NJOM3 well on the Thali licence. The company said it has entered into a six-month loan facility with Shard Merchant Capital for US$500,000. At the same time, it has extended its existing US$750,000 loan facility with Pegasus Petroleum by six months. The firm also confirmed a share subscription, agreed on August 28, 2020, to raise gross proceeds of US$ 200,000 through the issue of approximately 38,407,989 new ordinary shares at a subscription price of 0.393p each to clients of Shard. Vast Resources PLC (LON:VAST), the AIM-listed mining company, said it has elected to pay the interest of $29,591.45 due on August 29, 2020, on the $7,101,947 Bond issued to Atlas announced on January 31, 2020 by the issue of 12,643,763 shares at a price of 0.1759p each. Sativa PLC (LON:SATI) announced that at the Special Meeting held by Stillcanna Inc. on Thursday August 27, the resolution regarding the acquisition of Sativa by Stillcana was duly passed with over 99.9% of shares represented voting in favour of the motion, and less than 0.1% against. The company also noted that the Scheme Sanction Hearing that was due to be held today, at which the Court was to consider whether to exercise its discretion to sanction the Scheme, was adjourned to clarify a procedural step taken following the order of the Court made at the Convening Hearing held on 20 July 2020. The adjourned Scheme Sanction Hearing will now take place at 10.00am (London time) on 3 September 2020. It is expected that the adjourned Scheme Sanction Hearing will be conducted remotely using Microsoft Teams. Rosslyn Data Technologies PLC (LON:RDT) said that, further to its announcement of August 17, 2020, relating to the appointment of Paul Watts as its chief customer officer, the group can confirm that all the usual regulatory checks have been completed and that Watts - a director of KiWa Consulting Limited - will join its board with immediate effect. Silence Therapeutics PLC (LON:SLN), a leader in the discovery, development and delivery of novel RNA therapeutics for the treatment of serious diseases, said it will announce its unaudited interim results for the half year ended June 30, 2020, on September 14, 2020. It noted that Iain Ross, the group’s executive chairman, Dr Rob Quinn, its chief financial officer and Dr Giles Campion, head of R&D and chief medical officer will host a webcast and live conference call for analysts and investors at 1.00pm BST | 8.00am ET on the day of the results. Webcast link:   https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/8yn44oft Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (CSE:XOP) (LON:COPL), an international oil and gas exploration and development company focused on sub-Saharan Africa, said that, further to its announcement of August 17, 2020, due to restricted working conditions surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it has extended the date for the filing of its unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements and related management discussion and analysis for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2020, and now intends to complete the interim filings on or before September 14, 2020. There have been no material business developments since the announcement of August 17, 2020, the company added. 6.50am: Positive start predicted  The FTSE 100 is expected to start September on the front foot after the long UK Bank Holiday weekend, despite the pound rising to a near one-year high.   London’s blue-chip share index has been tipped to rise 29 points on Tuesday by spread-betters in the City, having ended last Friday at 5,963.57, down 36 points. The previous day was a working one in the US and most of Europe, with the majority of equity benchmarks losing ground.  On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrials Average and S&P 500 index finished in the red, down 0.8% and 0.2% respectively, but the Nasdaq Composite set another record intraday peak and ended 0.7% higher at the closing bell. Tuesday is all about manufacturing data around the world, with China setting things off on a positive note, with the private Caixin survey giving a reading of 53.1, which was up from 52.6 a month earlier, above the expected 52.6 and the fastest rate of expansion since 2011.  Equity markets in Asia were mostly in the green on Tuesfday but gaubs were muted, with the Nikkei 225 index and Shanghai Composite just above flat, and the Hang Seng up 0.25%. “The sunshine cast by China's PMI data across other asset classes has also fallen on oil,” said Jeffrey Halley, market analyst at Oanda. “The apparently healthy recovery in China, and a steady improvement across the rest of the Asia-Pacific has lifted consumption hopes which have flowed into higher prices today.” The dollar continued to soften after the ‘lower for longer’ speech from US central bank chief Jerome Powell last week, Halley added. “With no sign of the US Dollar's momentum waning in the short-term, Europe should see further appreciation versus the greenback, with pro-cyclical currencies outperforming.” Around the markets: Sterling was up 0.3% against the dollar at 1.3411 Gold has risen 0.9% to US$1,996.6 Oil is up, with Brent crude advancing 1.2% to US$45.80 6.45am: Early Markets - Asia/Australia Asia Pacific stoicks were mixed on Tuesday after a private survey showed Chinese manufacturing activity in August expanding at its fastest pace in nearly 10 years. Mainland Chinese stocks recovered from an earlier drop to rise by the afternoon, with the Shanghai composite up 0.08%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was slightly higher, while South Korea’s Kospi added 1.05%. But Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 hit a one-month low and was back below the key 6,000 point mark at 5,953 by evening, down 1.77%. READ OUR ASX REPORT FOR MORE INFORMATION Proactive Australia news: Netlinkz Ltd (ASX:NET) recorded strong revenue growth during a "transformational" 2020 financial year, with total revenue from customers of $5.25 million, up 846% on the prior year's $555,000. Auteco Minerals Ltd (ASX:AUT) has increased the JORC 2012-compliant inferred resource at its Pickle Crow Gold Project in Canada by 20% to 1 million ounces at 11.3 g/t gold. Vango Mining Limited’s (ASX:VAN) initial high-grade gold results from drilling of the PHB Corridor have confirmed extensions of all three major lode structures at the Marymia Gold Project in WA. VIP Gloves Ltd (ASX:VIP) is demonstrating the benefits of increasing personal protection equipment (PPE) use with revenues during FY20 up by 17.1% to more than $13.696 million and profit for the year, after-tax, up 102.4% to $116,056. Technology Metals Australia Limited (ASX:TMT) has been granted Mining Leases M51/883 (Northern Block) and M51/884 (Southern Tenement) within its Gabanintha Vanadium Project in WA. Eclipse Metals Ltd (ASX:EPM) has scheduled a detailed ground magnetometer to be completed ahead of stage two drilling at the Amamoor Manganese Project in southeast Queensland. Kin Mining NL (ASX:KIN) has received shallow and wide high-grade gold results from Helens East prospect with this new discovery enhancing the potential of the Cardinia Gold Project (CGP) near Leonora in Western Australia. engage:BDR Ltd (ASX:EN1) grew revenue by 31.5% to $8.1 million for the first half of 2020 from $6.1 million in 2019, with the company achieving 95% of milestones on or before schedule despite COVID-19. eSense-Lab Ltd (ASX:ESE) has received approval from Israel's Ministry of Health for a joint research project at the Central Virology lab in Chaim Sheba Medical Centre for testing its proprietary TRP-ENVTM compound for efficacy against the OC43 human coronavirus strain. YPB Group Ltd’s (ASX:YPB) financial performance improved strongly in the first half of 2020 with net operating loss reduced by $1.9 million or 52% compared to the corresponding period in 2019.