Highland Gold Mining Ltd (LON:HGM) was a good gainer in late afternoon trading, up 1.4% at 148.1p after the AIM listed firm provided an updated mineral resource estimate for its flagship Kekura project which showed increased total gold reserves though at slightly lower grades.
The new resource update gives total gold reserves of 2.0mln ounces of gold at a grade of 7.0 grammes of gold per tonne of ore, up from a previous estimate, made in January 2017, for 1.7mln ounces of gold at a grade of 10.7 g/t gold.
Highland's Kekura gold project is located in the Chukotka region of Russia's Far East, and production is targeted to start from the site in 2021.
Elsewhere, Golden Prospect Precious Metals Limited (LON:GPM) added 4.6% at 34.0p after the firm disclosed its latest net asset value was 37.2p per share as at 5 February 2018.
And Softcat PLC (LON:SCT) was also higher, up 1.0% to 523p after the IT infrastructure provider lifted its full-year guidance on the back of a "strong" first half.
The AIM listed group said its adjusted operating profits rose 19%, "reflecting consistent performance across the period and further successful execution of the strategy".
Softcat conceded that, given the nature of its operations, its forward visibility is relatively low.
"However, the strong H1 performance will clearly support the full year outturn and as a result the board expects to slightly exceed previous expectations," it added.
Sanne Group PLC (LON:SNN) featured among the fallers in early afternoon trading, shedding 4.1% at 686p as it warned of an adverse impact from foreign exchange movements during the second half, although it said it still expects 2017 underlying earnings to be in line with its expectations.
The FTSE 250 listed corporate and fund administration services provider said it had been hurt by foreign exchange rate movements, particularly in light of its increased exposure to US dollar-denominated earnings following its acquisition of FLSV Fund Administration Services in the US and IFS Group in Mauritius.
Elsewhere, blue chip financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HL.) lost 3.3% at 1,771.5p despite reporting double-digit growth in net business inflows, pre-tax profit, and revenue in the first half of its financial year.
For the six months ended December 31, the fund supermarket reported pre-tax profit of ?146.9mln, up 12% on a year earlier, although Hargreaves also cautioned over Brexit uncertainty and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme levy which will hit its second half results.
And oil major BP PLC (LON:BP.) was down 0.3% at 480.7p despite boasting of "strong delivery and growth" in its fourth quarter numbers, highlighted by improved upstream production and underlying profit.
However, a further US$1.7bn charge associated with the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico rig disaster meant the FTSE 100 listed group reported only a small profit.
News of big management changes at Investec PLC (LON:INVP) saw shares in the specialist banking and asset management firm gain 2% at 549.4p.
The FTSE 250-listed group said its chief executive Stephen Koseff, managing director Bernard Kantor, and Risk & Finance director Glynn Burger, who it said are considered part of Investec's founding members, are to leave the Anglo-South African company over the next year.
Koseff and Kantor will step down at the start of October this year, and until the end of March 2019, they will serve as executive directors before become non-executive directors. Burger will retire at the end of March 2019, and will then become a non-executive director.
Investec said Fani Titi and Hendrik du Toit will become CEO-designates at the start of April before become joint-CEOs in October. Titi will step down as company chairman at the end of March and will be replaced by non-executive Director Perry Crosthwaite.
Kim McFarland, who has been chief operating officer & chief financial officer of Investec Asset Management since 1993, will take over as group finance director in April next year.
"The board congratulates the new executive team on their appointments. The board is confident that Fani and Hendrik, together with senior management, will continue to grow and build Investec's core businesses and deliver the right outcomes for the group's clients and stakeholders."
On a day when stock markets were in freefall, a big drop in TechFinancials Inc (LON:TECH) shares stood out, with the AIM-listed firm shedding 13.9% at 15.5p after the group pulled the plug on the sale of its shareholdings in B O TradeFinancials (BOT) and MarketFinancials (MF) to S Win Holdings.
The Israeli technology provider to financial trading brokers said it is currently considering its options in respect of its shareholdings in BOT and MF.
Mid-cap transport operator Stagecoach PLC (LON:SGC) was also a big casualty, dropping 8.6% to 132.8p on news that its franchise to run the East Coast Mainline rail service will end earlier than expected.
In a statement to the House of Common's on Tuesday afternoon, UK transport secretary Chris Grayling said Stagecoach would only continue running the London to Edinburgh rail line for "a small number of months and no more," having "got its numbers wrong" when bidding to run the service.
And Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO) lost 5.4% at 465.8p after the online grocer accompanied full-year results with plans for a placing of up to 31.5mln shares, around 5% of the company to raise ?155mln to expand its Solutions business worldwide.
The FTSE 250-listed firm saw a sharp drop in profit for its last financial year and said this year's earnings will be hit by costs related to its transformation into a technology provider rather than just a grocery delivery firm.
In the midst of the sea of red which engulfed London stock market on Tuesday, there were a few notable gainers in early trading, with MX Oil PLC (LON:MXO) gaining 8% at 0.68p after giving a bullish update on the OML 113 offshore licence in Nigeria in which it has an investment.
The AIM-listed firm noted that the Aje Field within the OML 113 licence area commenced production in 2016 and the partners in the licence have decided that it is now the appropriate time to commission an updated Competent Persons Report (CPR) to take into account new data and to provide a more accurate update of the future potential of the field.
MX said it expects the CPR to be completed in March 2018 and will provide a further update once it becomes available.
Also among the minnows swimming upstream, Highlands Natural Resources PLC's (LON:HNR) ticked 0.2% higher at 146.3p after the explorer revealed that production at its East Denver project in Colorado has topped 100,000 barrels oil equivalent.
Achieving this landmark took just 64 days from the start of initial production in December, Highlands added.
The only FTSE 100 gainer first thing was Africa-focused gold miner Randgold Resources PLC (LON:RRS) which added 0.9% at 6,582p as the price of the yellow metal gained on safe haven buying in the face of the collapse in global stock markets.
Randgold also delivered upbeat fourth quarter numbers on Monday, which saw the FTSE 100-listed firm double its dividend as annual profit rose by 14%.
Healthcare giant Abbott Laboratories' (NYSE:ABT) is to collaborate with liquid biopsy medtech ANGLE PLC (LON:AGL) on a breast cancer study.
Redx Pharma PLC (LON:REDX) has commenced its Phase 1/2a cancer study for the Porcupine inhibitor RXC004. The company said the first patient has now been dosed at The Christie hospital in Manchester.
Directa Plus PLC (LON:DCTA) has announced the launch of two new textile collections containing the company's Graphene Plus (G+) by Colmar, the high-end sports and activewear company, and Eurojersey SpA, a producer of high quality warp-knit technical fabrics under its Sensitive (R) Fabrics brand. The group said both collections were unveiled at ISPO 2018, the sport and sportswear international trade fair held in Munich.
SDX Energy Inc (LON:SDX, CVE:SDX) has revealed positive well testing results for the recently drilled ONZ-7 well at the Sebou permit, onshore Morocco. ONZ-7 achieved an average flow rate of 10mln cubic feet of gas per day during the test. The well will now be prepared for production, with the connection to nearby infrastructure anticipated in the coming days.
Jubilee Metals PLC (LON:JLP) has elected to exercise its option to earn 40% of the Kabwe lead, zinc and vanadium project in Zimbabwe. Jubilee's effective interest will therefore go to just over 57%, as it already owns a stake in its partner at Kabwe, BMR Group PLC (LON:BMR).
Galantas Gold Corp (LON:GAL) has announced that the appeal against its planning consent at the Omagh gold mine in Northern Ireland has been delayed until 15 February, due to illness on the part of the litigant. Galantas already has consent to work at Omagh, where there is a history of gold production.
Anglo Asian Mining PLC (LON:AAZ) has set production guidance for the year to December 2018 of between 78,000 and 84,000 ounces of gold equivalent. That represents roughly a 13% increase on the 2017 number and comes as a number of expansion initiatives at Anglo Asian's Azerbaijan mines complete.
Bacanora Minerals Ltd (LON:BCN) (CVE:BCN), the London and Canada-listed lithium company, has appointed Eileen Carr as a non-executive director and Janet Boyce as chief financial officer. The board strengthening comes ahead of the start of construction at its Sonora lithium project in Mexico.
AdEPT Telecom PLC (LON:ADT) said it was notified today that on 5 February 2018, Christopher Kingsman, a non-executive director of the company again increased his shareholding following the purchase of 5,000 ordinary shares by Greenwood Investments Limited at a price of 285p each. Following the purchase, the group added, Kingsman has a total beneficial interest in 4,020,000 ordinary shares held via Greenwood Investments, representing approximately 17.0% of the company's current issued share capital.
Collagen Solutions PLC (LON:COS) has confirmed it will be hosting an afternoon presentation for investors on Monday, 26 February 2018 in the Copper Bar, upstairs at Balls Brothers, 6 Adams Court, Old Broad St, London, EC2N 1DX at 5.30pm for a 5.45pm start. The group said Jamal Rushdy, Collagen's CEO will give an update on recent news and key milestones expected this year on ChondroMimetric (R), the Company's proprietary product, a minimally-invasive surgically placed scaffold for the repair of knee cartilage defects. He will also provide a summary of the Company's core business activities over the next period, the firm added.
Berkeley Energia Limited (LON:BKY) advised shareholders that an updated company presentation is available for download on its website at: www.berkeleyenergia.com