London’s AIM Index took a beating on Wednesday shedding over 20 points to close down at 1176.15, making for the biggest percentage points loss since the end of October. Certainly some exaggerated volatility being seen across the Atlantic across a few smaller cap stocks, which given it has dragged a number of trading platforms offline could be damping volumes closer to home.
- IDE Group up 26%
- Scapa Group up 25%
- Eurasia Mining down 38%
- Applied Graphene Materials down 27%
- Online Blockchain down 17%
IT services provider IDE Group [LON:IDE] advanced 26% during Wednesday’s trade. There’s nothing behind the news explicitly, but the contract win we flagged after the Christmas break has been reported in the media again this week and that appears to be lending fresh support. It is however worth noting the shares closed on a 15% spread and remain well below the highs from the start of the year.
Materials specialists Scapa Group [LON:SCPA] saw its shares jump by almost a quarter after the company agreed to a takeover bid. The price is closed some 11p above the offer however, suggesting that there’s some belief that this isn’t a done deal – yet.
Eurasia Mining [LON:EUA] slipped 38%, with the collapse coming in the last thirty minutes of the market. There’s no news reported behind the fact but it would seem likely that the company will be obliged to make some kind of comment here, given the magnitude of the decline which at one point saw 50% knocked off the price.
Applied Graphene Materials [LON:AGM] also struggled, losing 27% although that move came off the back of a £6m funding round. Taking into account the dilution effect, this actually looks relatively positive, with shares still up on the levels seen at the end of last year.
A notable mention for Online Blockchain [LON:OBC] which saw its shares slide 17% today as Bitcoin headed towards lows for the year. There’s no other news behind this, but the – what could be considered – erratic investor behaviour across the Atlantic which is being attributed to day traders may have applied some downside pressure onto BTC as a result.