Petra Diamonds was in focus yesterday amid speculation that the group was close to initiating a £60 million fundraising.

The company, up 4½p to 73½p, has indicated that it plans to raise funds, and the rumour doing the rounds in the City was that it would try to take advantage of its recent good run sooner rather than later.

Brokers suggested that the miner could hold a share placing at about 65p a share to develop its assets.

Interest in Petra was also sparked by a bullish note from Canaccord Adams, which recently won a hotly contested fight to be the group’s broker. Canaccord has started coverage on Petra with a “buy” rating and a 120p target price, saying that it has the potential to be producing more than 3.5 million carats of rough diamonds per annum by the end of the next decade.

Inspired Gaming fell 4¾p to 6¾p after the gaming software group, which is talking to several parties about a potential takeover, proposed a share-capital reorganisation.

Trading Emissions rose ¼p to 99p after the carbon credits group said that it was in merger talks with Leaf Clean Energy, the green investment business, up 3½p to 100p. Gus Hochschild, a Mirabaud analyst, said that such a deal would boost significantly Trading Emissions’ exposure to the nascent green economy in the United States.

Tristel finished up ½p to 58p after the infection control group raised £2 million in a share placing at 56p to fund its expansion in China.

Ceres Power added 11½p to 186½p after Goldman Sachs said that its recent Irish order was further evidence of the commercial potential of its boiler replacement fuel cells.

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