Market Report: TalkTalk shares back on the rise despite hack

The TalkTalk hack was a storm in a teacup. That appeared to be investors’ point of view as the share price rocketed back up. A 29.8p, or 13 per cent, surge to 255.1p left the stock just 13.4p below the closing price on Thursday, the day before the attack hit the headlines.

Many of TalkTalk’s 4 million customers may still be unsure about the consequences of the hack, but investors were reassured that a 15-year-old boy has been arrested and questioned in Northern Ireland.

They were also encouraged by the company’s hard line on customers wanting to cancel contracts; only those who can prove they lost money because of the breach will be able to terminate their contract without paying a fee.

Miners and oil companies kept stocks in the red, with the FTSE 100 51.75 points worse off at 6,365.27. Trading was edgy ahead of Wednesday’s update from the US Federal Reserve, which will give investors clues on the timing of a long-awaited rise in interest rates.

Anglo American was the biggest casualty, 33.5p cheaper at 557.4p, while iron ore giant BHP Billiton dropped 40p to 1,091p.

In the oil sector, a fall in the price of crude to $46 a barrel dragged Shell down 28.5p to 1,721.5p and BG Group 22.5p lower to 1,028p. BP joined the merger hopefuls down 4.4p at 380p, even after better than expected third-quarter results.

Reassurances about the health of InternetQ did little to prevent the share price falling further. It plunged 16 per cent to 155.25p as the music streaming and adtech firm was caught up in concerns surrounding Greek companies on AIM in the wake of the Globo scandal.

On Monday, the software firm Globo stunned investors when it revealed that its chief executive had admitted to “the falsification of data and the misrepresentation of the company’s financial situation”. Its shares remain suspended from trading.

InternetQ, which like Globo started out as a Greek company, has long sought to distance itself from its cash-strapped birthplace. The 2014 annual report revealed that Greek sales amounted to 2 per cent of the group’s overall revenues.