Results round-up

Polar Capital Technology Trust reported a 41.2% increase in net assets to £1.13bn at the half-year stage.

The share price on the other hand rose 40.5% during the six-month span to 31 October, which meant the discount on the shares versus the company's net asset value widened from 6.5% to 7.0%.

In parallel, the company's Sterling adjusted benchmark was up by 39.1%, with stock in Advanced Micro Devices as the single largest contributor as the shares ran up by 144%.

During the period, the US market continued to perform on both an absolute and relative basis, amid heightened mergers and acquisitions activity and a "robust" US dollar.

Seven of the trust's positions were acquired during the period, Arcam, ARM Holdings, Demandware QLIK Technologies, Linear Technology, LinkedIn and Netsuite.

Lessened fears of a 'hard landing' in Japan saw stocks in that market jump 30%, reversing a part of their earlier underperformance, helped by a supportive central bank and a rising yen.

Europe on the other hand was a laggard, as political uncertainty, weakness in Sterling and worries about the health of the banking system weighed.

Emerging markets on the other hand roared back as the Chinese economy and commodity prices stabilised, with Brazil and Russia performing especially well, the company said in a statement.

Despite the recent strong run, Polar Capital said it remained "constructive" on markets, describing the prospects for a reacceleration in economic growth next year as "reasonable", with global GDP seen expanding at a 3.4% clip, up from 3.1% before.

Exploration and development company Ortac Resources announced its unaudited financial results for the six months to 30 September on Friday - a period in which it recorded nil revenue, but did narrow its loss before tax to £0.25m from £0.34m.

The AIM-traded firm was kept busy, however, as it increased its initial stake in Casa Mining to 21.25% as Casa looked to potentially double the 1.2Moz resource at their Misisi Project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

It increased its stake in Andiamo Exploration to 27% as Andiamo expanded their land position in Eritrea and initiated plans for an active 2017 exploration season, and reported that Zamsort continued to proceed with the construction of their copper and cobalt processing plant at Kalaba.

Ortac currently has an option on 19.35% equity in Zamsort.

In Slovakia, the company said it continued to engage with potential local partners and assess developments in the alternate leaching technologies coming to market.

A total of £0.67m before costs was raised from two private placements during the reporting period and one subsequent placement post period.