Petra loses its lustre as lower prices take a toll

THE shine well and truly came off

Petra Diamonds as it was hit by lower prices amid weak demand in China and political unrest in Hong Kong.

Shares fell 12.4pc, or 1.33p, to 9.37p – taking losses over the past five years to over 90pc – after it reported a 6pc slide in first half revenues to £149m.

The diamond industry has been grappling with slowing demand due to anti-government protests in Hong Kong and a bruising trade dispute between China and the US. Some observers have also blamed the emergency of laboratory-grown diamonds.

However, Petra said it will meet or exceed full-year production targets. It said production increased by 3pc to 2,070,240 carats for the six-month period to December 31.

Petra hailed sales of the exceptional blue diamond from its flagship Cullinan mine, but said this was offset by price decline and poor quality diamonds from its Finsch mine in South Africa.

The Cullinan mine is the world’s main source of rare blue diamonds. The firm sold a 20.08 carat blue diamond recovered from Cullinan in September for £11.4m. Fresh engine trouble pushed

Rolls-Royce stock down 3.3pc, or 21.4p, to 636.6p.

Long-running problems with its Trent 1000 engines have already grounded a number of aircraft.

And now the European safety regulator, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, has raised new concerns about older engines fitted to Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

The upshot is that 787s with older Trent 1000s must replace one of the engines with a newer one. ‘The Trent 1000 program has been like whack-a-mole for RollsRoyce,’ said Nick Cunningham, an analyst at Agency Partners in London. ‘They address one problem and another one crops up.’

Citigroup also cut its price target on Rolls to 1080p from 1212p.

Only a handful of blue- chip stocks escaped a major sell-off as fears over the deadly coronavirus sent shares around the world into a tailspin. The FTSE 100 index closed down 2.3pc, or 173.93 points, to 7412.05 points, while the

FTSE 250 fell 2.1pc, or 460.27 points, to 21,303.67.

Of the blue chips that did make gains, NMC Health was up 0.9pc, or 12.5p, to 1360p, BT edged 0.5pc, or 0.92p, higher to 171.92p, Polymetal added 0.2pc, or 3p, to 1269p and Paddy Power owner Flutter put on 0.1pc, or 8p, to 8896p.

Astrazeneca shares fell 2.1pc, or 159p, to 7500p after the pharma company said it was taking back an experimental drug to treat Crohn’s disease and inflammation in the digestive system.

The company licensed the rights to brazikumab to Allergan in 2016, in a deal that saw the firm pay £191m up front and promise further instalments worth up to £1bn. But Allergan is now being merged with US pharma firm Abbvie and so is shedding assets to placate regulators. Despite its return to Astrazeneca, Allergan has agreed to continue funding development costs for brazikumab, Astra said. Hours later, rival Glaxosmithkline also said it had licensed the rights to a tuberculosis vaccine candidate to the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute for further development. Its shares fell 2.2pc, or 40.2p, to 1782.6p. Private hospital operator Spire

Healthcare will not be left on the hook for payouts over alleged unnecessary shoulder operations at one of its sites, the company said. A total of 217 patients have been contacted over treatment by surgeon Habib Rahman at Spire Parkway Hospital in Solihull for a review, which could lead to compensation claims. However, Spire said: ‘Claims arising as a result of this process should be met by Mr Rahman and his insurance.’

Shares fell 1.5pc, or 2p, to 132p.