Onthemarket remains under water despite upbeat update

SHARES in Onthemarket jumped 7.5pc as the estate agent-backed online portal attempted to reassure investors a week after its lacklustre listing on London’s junior Aim market, saying it had hit the ground running with a slew of new signings.

The company has struck 81 new listing agreements with independent estate agencies with a “significant number” more expected.

However, shares in the firm, which only managed to raise £30m of its £50m target in its listing on Feb 9, still failed to regain its 165p IPO price, ending the day up 11.5p at 164p.

The shine in markets yesterday came from gold, which hit $1,352 a troy ounce, recording its biggest weekly gain in nearly two years. Investors have been increasingly flocking to the yellow metal because of the US dollar’s weakness and as a hedge against inflation.

The dollar hit a threeyear low against a group of major currencies this week as concerns mount about the US’S twin budget and current account deficits, but the greenback did start to stage a recovery towards the end of the session and was likely responsible for gold’s dip later in the day.

In the UK meanwhile, the

FTSE 100 rose 59.9 points to 7,294.7, recording its first weekly gain since January, although it is still 6pc off the high it hit last month. Advertising giant WPP rose

59p to £14.71 as hopes remain the upbeat commentary from its US peer Interpublic about the improvement in the advertising market will be evident in Sir Martin Sorrell’s comments when his

company reports its results on March 1. The index was also helped by its best performer of the day Segro, which rose 36p, or 6.5pc, to 591.2p after it saw a doubling in pre-tax profits in 2017 to £976m as the warehouse owner benefited from the rising demand for online shopping.

Bernstein meanwhile helped Standard Life

Aberdeen firm 4.2p to 364.2p, recovering some of Thursday’s losses on news it had lost key client Lloyds.

The FTSE 250 powered ahead 158.9 points to 19,733.6 thanks to signs of recovery for a handful of stocks that have suffered steep share price falls in 2018. A late surge from outsourcer Capita saw it top the mid-cap index’s leaderboard after its 9.5p rise to 190p, helping it start to reverse the steep sell-off after a profit warning last month, just weeks after the collapse of its rival Carillion.

Another strong performer in the FTSE 250 was financial services firm

Sanne, whose share price rise of 24p to 645p helped claw back some of the major hit it suffered earlier this month after revealing it would have to change how it accounted for its bonus plan. Sanne said at the time it had moved in line with Financial Reporting Council guidance and would be reporting its bonus plan within underlying earnings.

And there still seemed to be love in the air for Card

Factory, which got a post-valentine’s Day boost with a 7.7p rise to 200p.

The Wakefield-based company has not been able to avoid the pressures of the high street and warned of margin pressure shortly after the turn of the year. The stock has fallen 42pc since September and consensus forecasts suggest operating profits will drop to £83.6m in the year to Jan 31 compared to £85.7m the prior year.