Market Report: Quindell investors set pulses racing

There’s never a dull day with Quindell but yesterday it was investors’ antics that set pulses racing. A sale of 21 million shares in the outsourcing specialist sent a flurry of excitement through the market in the afternoon, and led many to speculate that Toscafund was behind the trade. The hedge fund sold 2.2 million Quindell shares earlier in the week, so it wouldn’t have been out of the blue for Tosca to dump its stake. But a market source noted that the firm often trades shares between its funds and so may simply have been shuffling the deck rather than ditching it altogether. Quindell’s stock dipped by 3.75p to 67p.

A deal between Ukraine and Russia benefited companies operating in the region. The Greek bottling business Coca Cola HBC – whose biggest market is Russia – topped the FTSE 100 as its shares rose by 68p at 1159p. But continued concerns about the Greek economy meant that gains were tempered and the FTSE 100 index rose by just 9.94 points to 6,828.11.

The Canadian investment bank RBC Capital Markets reckons that Burberry’s investment in digital, its expansion into the beauty market and a strong US presence give it an advantage over its rivals. Burberry’s shares climbed 66p to 1887p.

After poor results sent Tullow Oil’s price tumbling on Wednesday, its chairman, Simon Thompson, showed his support for the business yesterday by snapping up 6,515 shares worth an estimated £25,000. Tullow duly rose 0.5p to 385.1p.

Shares in the online electricals retailer AO World tumbled by 19.3p to 304.6p after a Panmure Gordon analyst, Mike Stewart, claimed the business was “grossly overvalued”.

The infrastructure group John Laing priced its initial public offering at 195p a share, at the low end of expectations. Shares dipped to 194p in conditional trade.

Tests pointing to high-grade gold and copper reserves at the Hot Maden Prospect in Turkey helped its owner, Mariana Resources, to rise by 0.97p to 2.12p on the Alternative Investment Market.

Pre-tax profits at the Bermuda-based insurer Lancashire Holdings rose from $218.1m in 2013 to $229.6m in 2014. Its stock rose 23p to 635.5p.