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Concerns that the profitable Fusionex would swing to a loss this year in its push for revenue growth triggered a stampede for the Malaysian “big data” firm’s exit. The Aim-listed company, which is 46 per cent owned by chief executive Ivan Teh but is also backed by Standard Life, JPMorgan Asset Management and Aviva Investors, opened higher after reporting results ahead of expectations before crashing 117.5p, or 36 per cent, to 212.5p.

The drop came as forecasts from house broker Panmure Gordon sank in. Analyst George O’Connor predicted that Fusionex would swing from a £4.6m pre-tax profit in 2015 to a £1.4m loss this year, then return to profit in 2017. At a time when investors are steering clear of loss-making firms, the news triggered a selling spree.

Investors were also concerned by the rise in trade receivables, which the company put down to the expansion of its “partner channel network”, and it will be under pressure to collect the cash it is owed.

On the wider market, ECB President Mario Draghi injected life into the FTSE 100, which rallied 100.21 points to 5,773.79 by signalling that the central bank could boost its stimulus in March.

Miners led the charge, which came a day after the FTSE 100 entered “bear market” territory, having fallen 20 per cent from its peak in April. Glencore soared 11.05p to 82.25p, while other mining heavyweights Anglo American, up 26.95p to 248p, and BHP Billiton, 61.9p better off at 642.8p, were also on a tear.

Shares in Laird, the UK electronics company reported to be in the sights of US bidders, rose by 10.1p to 326.6p after its full-year trading update revealed no shocks. Annual revenues grew by 12 per cent to £630m, or by 5 per cent after stripping out deals and currency movements.

On the FTSE 250 index, Safestore nudged 1p higher to 331p after it reported annual underlying earnings up 7.7 per cent to £57.1m, with new self-storage sites to be opened in Chiswick and Wandsworth.

On the junior market, mobile payments firm Monitise ended flat at 2.25p despite saying that it expects to turn a profit in the second half of the year.

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