Crude oil prices are rising on fears that the civil war in Syria is spilling over into neighbouring Lebanon, and could infect the wider region. That comes on top of expectations that oil production in the North Sea will fall to records lows in September due to oil field maintenance work.
Global gold demand fell by 7 per cent in the second quarter year-on-year, due to demand downturns in India and China, according to data released by the World Gold Council.
On a slightly brighter note, the Office for National Statistics said that UK retail sales for July rose 0.3 per cent on the month and increased 2.8 per cent compared to the same month last year, as the Olympic feelgood factor began to kick in.
Seven banks, including HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, are facing investigation in the US for alleged manipulation of Libor. They join Barclays, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and UBS which have also received subpoenas from attorney generals from both New York and Connecticut states.
IC TIP UPDATES:
Shares in Victoria Oil & Gas (VOG) were up by six per cent on news that its Logbaba gas project in Cameroon's second city, Douala, will be cash-flow positive in October. The group as a whole expects to reach this financial position a month later. VOG now has continuous production of 1m cubic feet of gas a day and expects that to rise to 5m by the year-end, although that's adrift of a previously forecast 8m cubic feet.
KEY STORIES:
Falklands oil and gas explorer, Desire Petroleum (DES) has delivered a Competant Person's Report (CPR) in relation to its Elaine and Isobel prospects, located about 20km south of Rockhopper's Sea Lion discovery, the region's major discovery to date. The best estimate of Desire's share given in the CPR for the two prospects is 312m barrels with the geological chance of success estimated at 30 per cent
African Barrick Gold (ABG) has confirmed that it is in preliminary talks about the possibility of China National Gold Group buying a controlling stake in the company. ABG's shares rose by over 11 per cent on the news.
OTHER NEWS…
The share price of Bulgarian property group Orchid Developments (OCH) halved after it confirmed that that it will not be able to operate as planned without additional capital.
A raft of Facebook shares will be open to trade on the market today as a lock-up period preventing insider sales comes to an end. Facebook, which recently attracted a $10.6m investment from George Soros, is facing criticism from social media users over plans to extend its advertising scope. The shares closed yesterday at $21.20 - well below the $38 IPO price.
Half-year results are out today for Talvivarra Mining, Cineworld, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Planet Payment, BATM, PV Crystalox Solar, Xaar, Quarto and Stratex
