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UK stocks tracked sideways in early trade on Friday as optimism that an ongoing easing of lockdowns will boost economies was tempered by surging Covid-19 cases in the US and other global hotspots.
At 0820, the benchmark FTSE 100 index had inched down 1.85 points to 6,238.51.
Mining company Rio Tinto shed 0.9% to £45.035, having warned of increased costs, delays and reserves downgrades owing to a redesign of its huge Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project in Mongolia.
Bingo hall and casino group Rank gained 1.8% to 147.6p, even as it warned that its annual profit would be at the bottom end of its guidance range, due to costs associated with reopening its venues.
Rank would start reopening Mecca bingo venues in England from Saturday, but said some may not open again, pending an assessment of the viability of 12 sites.
Plastic and fibre products maker Essentra rose 2.2% to 299.4p despite seeing its like-for-like revenue slump 9% in the first half.
Essentra, however, said it expected an improving sales trend seen in the second quarter to continue into the third.
Online contracts-for-difference brokerage CMC Markets jumped 13% to 318.72p on announcing that it expected its performance to beat market expectations as solid client trading activity continued in the first quarter.
Broker and investment bank Numis firmed 2.6% to 320p after revealing that its quarterly revenue had increased materially compared to the previous two quarters.
Litigation financing group Manolete Partners rallied 6.0% to 540.4p, having posted a 59% rise in annual profit and doubled its dividend after it boosted its insolvency case load.
Renewable energy asset investor Octopus Renewables added 0.7% to 112.95p after it reaffirmed its dividend guidance, citing visibility of contracted revenue and its investment pipeline.
Footwear retailer Shoe Zone was unchanged at 80p as it announced that finance director Jonathan Fearn had resigned and would be replaced by Peter Foot.
The aptly-named Foot was most recently interim finance director at British Sugar and had also worked at Associated British Foods.
Telematics group Trakm8 revved 18% higher to 20p on sealing a fleet optimisation contract with a 'major UK food retailer' that had been expected in March but was delayed due to the Covid-19 outbreak.