UK markets were undecided on direction in early trade on the 23rd May, with the FTSE 100 heading lower and reversing to test the high of Wednesday 18th May. Crude Oil was also undecided on direction, with a slow early session seeing the $47 per barrel level unchanged.

Gold is consolidating in the $1250 region after a few days of heavy falls during the previous week. However, many analysts are bullish on Gold, and prices may head higher again if economic data is favourable.

Late strength in the US markets on Friday, including the S&P500 and Nasdaq 100, may be undone at the open if Europe cannot hold on to the current levels.

Some companies on the London Stock Exchange reported results today, here is a brief round-up.

Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYA) delivered their shareholders a stunning set of results. The company reported full year profits of €1,242m, a 43% increase on the prior year. Encouragingly traffic was up by 18% during the period. Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary stated,”FY16 was a year in which we delivered significant traffic and profit growth in all 4 quarters (despite an av. oil price of $90bbl as a consequence of hedges put in place in 2014) as our AGB service programme is attracting millions of new customers to our lowest fare/lowest cost model.”.

Cerillion PLC (CER), the AIM listed billing and charging software company, reported revenue up by 11% to £6.9m in comparison to £6.2M for the 2015 period. New orders were up 50% and adjusted profit before tax up by 19% to £0.7m. Louis Hall, CEO of Cerillion, commented, “I am pleased to present our maiden interim results following the Company’s successful admission to AIM in March 2016. Cerillion made pleasing progress over the period, delivering strong profit growth, in line with management expectations.”.

Strategic Minerals PLC (SML), the AIM listed minerals production and development company, narrowed Loss before taxation to $880,000 from $6,056,000 loss in 2015. The company stated they have a tight control of overheads in challenging market conditions, and the cash position of the Group as at 31 December 2015 was $1,049,000.