STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-UK small caps close up 0.4 pct, behind FTSE

UK small caps and junior-listed AIM shares rise 0.4 percent, underperforming the mid-caps and the blue chips, up 0.9 percent and 0.5 percent respectively.

St Ives (LSE: SIV.L - news) rallies 5.9 percent after Numis intitates coverage of the the marketing services firm with a "buy" rating and it sees 20 percent upside for the share price from current levels.

"An increased mix of EBITA from Marketing Services should see the group's shares re-rate, from the current 6 times EBITDA and 10 times price-to-earnings, to closer to the valuation of the agencies sub-sector, which is 10 times EBITDA and 15 times earnings," Numis says in a note, setting a target price of 228 pence for the company.

JKX Oil & Gas (LSE: JKX.L - news) falls 4.1 percent after the explorer announces a progress update on the R-103 frac in the Ukraine.

"It is too early to determine commerciality of well R-103 as a stand-alone, or to quantify the effect of this result on the overall field reserves. However, due to the increased uncertainty we are increasing the risk of this development in our Appraisal NAV, which reduces our NAV to 106 pence per share from 118 pence per share," Oriel Securities says in a note.

Reuters messaging rm://david.brett.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net