Taking Stock

Watch Shield Diagnostic, the health care group. Tomorrow an investment lunch, hosted by stockbroker Sutherlands, is due to be held in Edinburgh. And the company should hear this week what the American Food and Drug Administration thinks about its key product, its AFT heart attack test. The shares rose 25p to 680p; they have had a volatile year, moving between 805p and 110.5p.

Petra Diamonds, which last month raised pounds 4.5m through a placing, has taken on two more concessions in Angola. Michael Long, a mining analyst for 30 years, has produced, under the banner of stockbroker IA Pritchard, a detailed study. He believes Petra should be in profit by 1999 with up to pounds 1.8m possible. The shares, up 3p to 106.5p, are, he says, a buy.