The UK stock market has suffered a turbulent week as alleged corporate scandals in the Far East sent the Japanese stock market tumbling.

These jitters reverberated around the worlds major stock markets and nervous investors sold off the UK's blue chip index, the FTSE 100. Sellers pushed the UK market briefly below the psychologically important 5,700 level but the negative reaction was short lived.

Closer to home, Pace Micro Technology updated the market with interim figures on Tuesday.

Management revealed the Saltaire-based company had generated a loss of £9.8 million in the six months

to December 3. Revenue in the

period crashed by around 50 per cent to £78.9 million.

The reason for this abject performance is a sharp fall in the amount of UK customers willing to buy set top boxes. In fact it seems this market has become saturated - 70 per cent of British households own some type of set top box. However, hopes remain that the second half of the year will return the company to prosperity. Contracts have been signed with large US satellite operators Comcast and DirecTV and it is hoped these will bear fruit. The US constitutes the majority of the world's set top box market. However, the deliveries on the contracts are four months late. There is no interim dividend.

An acquisition was announced by Belgravium Technologies in the last week. After acquiring Touchstar Technolgies in October 2005 the company has purchased Novo IVC for £1.3m from a Finnish company. Novo IVC creates passenger retail systems for use in airlines and railways and Touchstar is one of its suppliers. This acquisition should offer synergies due to this association. Novo IVC is based in Leamington Spa.

US investment bank Goldman Sachs has retained its "underperform" stance on Bradford & Bingley. As has been pointed out in this column before, the mortgage bank's shares enjoyed a strong run in the last months of 2005, Goldman Sachs now feels this valuation has become

too pricy. The bank believes shareholders are now expecting a bid in

the near future but at current

levels this unlikely. This is because banks are typically acquired at a price 20 per cent higher than the prevailing share price. However, Goldman Sachs did upgrade earnings estimates for the second half of the current financial year.