Broker snap: Positive trading update from Standard Chartered

4th May 2010 12:56

Standard Chartered is Charles Stanley's favoured stock in the UK banking sector, a view that will only have been reinforced by Tuesday's morning's upbeat trading statement."This was another positive trading update from Standard Chartered who, despite margin pressure, has enjoyed a strong start to the year with a record quarter in terms of both profit and income," said Charles Stanley analyst Nic Clarke, adding that the bad debt position also seems to have improved in the first quarter of 2010."The performance of the Wholesale Bank remains strong but, as in the Q1 2010 [first quarter 2010], we would like to see an improved share of group profits from Consumer Banking in 2010 as it represents better quality earnings," Clarke said.The broker has retained its "accumulate" recommendation.