Kosmos Energy Ltd (LON:KOS) was a faller in late afternoon trading, down 11.4% to 435p after the explorer said tests at the recently completed Requin Tigre-1 exploration well in Senegal failed to detect any hydrocarbons.
The main market listed oil and gas exploration and production company said Requin Tigre-1 was drilled to a total depth of 5,200 metres and but the prospect did not yield any hydrocarbons, and analysis is underway to determine why.
Despite the setback, Kosmos said the insights from the well will provide "competitive advantage" and "meaningfully advance" its working understanding of the deepwater Cretaceous petroleum systems of offshore Mauritania and Senegal, where it believes there is still substantial prospectivity.
Elsewhere, Obtala Limited (LON:OBT) shed 9% to 12.38p after the Africa-focused agriculture and forestry group topped up its recent ?4.5mln fundraise by an additional ?0.91mln.
The group carried out a subscription, institutional placing and a retail share offer at 12.5p each.
In a note to clients, analysts at reiterated a 'buy' rating on Obtala shares but cut their target price to 25p, down from 36p previously after making a number of changes to 2017 forecasts following Obtala'e recent fourth-quarter update.
IQE plc (LON:IQE), which supplies technology to Apple Inc's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhones, said a short seller's note that claimed it was misrepresenting profits was "without merit and misleading".
Shares in the semiconductor material maker fell 2.01% to 102.30p in afternoon trade.
ShadowFall Capital and Research, an investment fund manager that holds a short position in the stock, said in a report on Friday that it was concerned about two of IQE's joint ventures in Singapore and Cardiff and that a number of related party transactions appeared to be somewhat circular.
"The allegations contained within the report are without merit and provide a misleading analysis of the company's financial position," IQE said in a Monday statement.
"The central thesis of this report is a fundamental misrepresentation of the profit and cash generation of IQE, especially with respect to the company's joint venture agreements."
IQE said that since ShadowFall holds a short position in the company it will duly profit from any near-term reduction in the share price.
IQE's shares have risen more than six-fold since mid-2016 as investors believe it will benefit from its relationship with Apple.
Its shares have become one of the most shorted, with more than 10% now held as a short interest.
The company reiterated its full year outlook for revenue to be ahead of market expectations and to be not less than ?150mln.
Weatherly International plc (LON:WTI) got a boost in late morning trading, with its shares up 14% to 2.,40p after it announced that it has entered into a binding agreement to increase its ownership of China Africa Resources Namibia Limited (CARN) to 90% from 25%.
CARN is a private Namibian company which owns 100% of the high-grade Berg Aukas underground zinc-lead-vanadium project near Grootfontein.
Weatherly will purchase all of Hong Kong based East China Non-Ferrous Mineral Resources Co Ltd (ECE)'s shares in CARN for a cash consideration of US$600,000 in order to increase its ownership of CARN to 90%.
Elsewhere, shares in Aminex plc (LON:AEX) and Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO) both jumped too, up 14% to 4.7p and 9% to 3.35p respectively, on news of a major upgrade to the gas resources at the Ntorya project in Tanzania, as part of an independent competent persons report produced by RPS Energy.
The project's gas-initially-in-place increased to 1.87 trillion cubic feet, which is 44% more than Aminex's previous in-house estimates. Compared to the prior independent assessment, the new number represents a 12-fold increase.
And Kibo Mining PLC (LON:KIBO) shares gained 5.5% to 5.75p on news that, following a month of close interaction and co-operation with the Tanzania Electric Supply Company and the Ministry of Energy, at both departmental as well as ministerial level, the company's CEO and COO arrived in Dar es Salaam on 02 February 2018 to conclude final formalities related to the signing of the Mbeya Coal to Power Project (MCPP) Memorandum of Understanding.
Shield Therapeutics PLC (LON:STX) saw its shares price drop by nearly 50% to 57.5p in mid morning trading after the specialty pharmaceuticals group revealed that a pivotal Phase III study of an anaemia treatment failed to meet its primary endpoint.
The study was for Feraccru, a novel oral ferric iron therapy that has been approved and marketed in Europe since 2016 for the treatment of iron deficiency anaemia (IDA), initially in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Carl Sterritt, Shield's chief executive officer, said: "We are surprised and disappointed by these top-line findings. Feraccru has previously demonstrated positive efficacy and safety in IBD patients, which led to it being approved in Europe where it continues to gain commercial traction. "
He added: "We now await the full dataset in order to fully understand the study's outcome and define the next steps in our strategy."
Cineworld (CINE.L) was the biggest market faller, shedding 55% at 231.6p after saying its US$3.6bn deal to buy US cinema chain Regal Entertainment (NYSE:RGC) was on track to close in March after it secured support from a majority of its own shareholders and the largest investor in Regal on Friday.
The share price drop reflected an adjustment for the ?1.7bn rights issue Cineworld is undertaking to part-fund the massive US reverse takeover deal, with Deutsche Bank chopping its target price for the stock back to 360p from 825p as a result.
But the German bank likes the acquisition, and still reiterates a 'buy' rating on Cineworld shares, seeing 57% upside potential.
And Harvest Minerals Limited (LON:HMI) lost 9.9% at 14.88p after the AIM-listed fertiliser development company announced that it has approved an incentivisation scheme for its executive directors and senior management for the first time.
The group said the performance shares - 2mln each for executive chairman, Brian McMaster and executive director Luiz Azevedo, plus 1mln each for chief operating officer, Mark Heyhoe and project manager, Luis Clerot - will be issued for nil consideration in four equal tranches subject to a number of conditions.
Veltyco Group plc (LON:VLTY) was a top market gainer in early morning trading, jumping 11.7% higher to 90p after the online marketing company for the gaming industry confirmed that trading in December continued to be strong.
In a trading update, the AIM listed firm said, based on management accounts, it expects that the results for the year ended 31 December 2017 will be significantly ahead of market expectations with net revenues in excess of ?,?14.5mln(2016: ?,?6.1mmln) and the operating EBITDA in excess of ?,?8mln (2016: ?,?2.1mln).
Last week, the firm agreed to acquire Austrian sportsbook operator, Ruleo Alpenland GmbH for ?,?6.5mln in a mixture of cash and shares.
Among other early AIM gainers, Galileo Resources PLC (LON:GLR) took on 4.8% at 1.63p on news its Glenover Phosphate subsidiary has signed heads of agreement for an off-take deal with a major industry player.
Glenover will supply raw phosphate rock in the form of concentrate from its project in Limpopo Province, South Africa.
And secure payments and customer contact solutions group Eckoh PLC (LON:ECK) added 3.7% at 42.25p on news it has secured six "sizeable" contract wins over the past two months or so.
One of the deals is with one of the UK's largest mobile network providers while the rest are across the payments, insurance and healthcare sectors.
Kibo Mining PLC (LON:KIBO) shares gained on news that, following a month of close interaction and co-operation with the Tanzania Electric Supply Company and the Ministry of Energy, at both departmental as well as ministerial level, the company's CEO and COO arrived in Dar es Salaam on 02 February 2018 to conclude final formalities related to the signing of the MCPP Memorandum of Understanding.
Landore Resources Ltd (LON:LND) has boosted total nickel equivalent resources at its B4-7 deposit in Canada by 43%. Total metal contained now rings in at 46,661 tonnes, with the mineralisation still open along strike and at depth.
Active Energy Group PLC (LON:AEG) this morning told investors that its first commercial CoalSwitch plant is set to become fully operational, and it will be officially opened this week. The plant, in Utah, United States, will produce the group's biomass based fuel to client specifications and initial production is supported by offtake contract.
Obtala Limited (LON:OBT) has topped up its recent ?4.5mln fundraise by an additional ?0.91mln. The Africa-focused agriculture and forestry group carried out a subscription, institutional placing and a retail share offer at 12.5p each. Any shares issued have a warrant attached that converts at 20p during the next two years.
UK biopharma Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy (LON:FARN) has established a second manufacturing site for its lead drug candidate, Traumakine. A facility in Ilsensburg, Germany - run by contract manufacturing organisation, Lyocontract - will complement the primary site currently operated by Rentschler Biopharma.
Horizonte Minerals Plc (LON:HZM) has completed a trial excavation programme at its Araguaia nickel project in Brazil. The programme included mining 27,000 tonnes of ore, analysis of the ore and additional drilling. The results will be incorporated into the company's ongoing feasibility study.
Bezant Resources plc (LON:BZT) has announced it will raise ?600,000 via a sale of new equity, securing working capital and bringing in new investors including AIM-mining deal maker Colin Bird. Some 133mln new shares are being sold in an oversubscribed placing arranged by Peterhouse Corporate Finance. The new shares are priced at 0.45p and they will be issued in two tranches, with the first anticipated later this week and the second is subject to shareholder approval.
Stobart Group Limited (LON:STOB), the infrastructure and support services group, said it was notified that, on 2 February 2018, Andrew Tinkler, an executive director of the company, acquired 250,000 ordinary shares at a price of 247.78p per share. Following the above purchase, the group added, Tinkler holds a beneficial interest in 27,226,811 ordinary shares, representing approximately 7.68% of the company's issued share capital.
Metal Tiger PLC (LON:MTR) announced that Charles Hall, the firm's non-executive chairman has purchased 1,000,000 shares at an average price of 2.077p per share. Following these on market purchase, the group said Hall is interested in 30,858,406 shares in Metal Tiger, representing 2.82% of the company. Metal Tiger also announced that its latest corporate presentation is available to view on the company's website.
KEFI Minerals (LON:KEFI) announced that it has recently assembled and submitted applications for over 1000km2 of strategically selected copper and gold tenements near the company's Tulu Kapi development project in Ethiopia (via its wholly-owned subsidiary KEFI Minerals Ethiopia) and also a similar-sized area near the company's Hawiah exploration project in Saudi Arabia (via its 40%-owned Joint Venture with ARTAR). KEFI also said it has been invited to present at the Investing in African Mining Indaba Conference base metals session, being held in Cape Town this week, as well as giving its corporate presentation.
Harvest Minerals Limited (LON:HMI) announced that it has approved an incentivisation scheme for its executive directors and senior management. The AIM listed fertiliser development company said the performance shares - 2mln each for executive chairman, Brian McMaster and executive director Luiz Azevedo, plus 1mln each for chief operating officer, Mark Heyhoe and project manager, Luis Clerot - will be issued for nil consideration in four equal tranches subject to a number of conditions.
Harvest Minerals also announced that a video providing an overview of its Arapua Fertiliser Project, Brasil, and the work currently being conducted on site is now available to view on the company's website.