Prudential share price slips back, despite positive earnings

11th Nov 2010 10:27

In figures released this morning Prudential's Q3 sales rose to £809m to take the total year to date figure to £2.4bn. Sales in Asia continued to rise over the last quarter, up 25% while UK and US sales also performed well despite being a slight drag earlier in the year. The company continues to target its main growth areas as being South East Asia where savings remain quite high, in contrast to western economies. After the falls in late March after the AIA rights issue debacle the shares have slowly regained ground, but have traded sideways over the last three months, struggling to make much progress above the highs around 660p. The market looks like it could be forming a medium term triple top or head and shoulders with two areas of support coming in between 615p and 625p. A break below these support areas could well signal a sharp move down towards the August lows around 550p. To keep the upward momentum intact we would need to see a move above the recent highs around 662p.Broker sentiment is positive with then "buy" recommendations and two "sell" recommendations, with the most recent recommendation from Panmure Gordon today reiterating their "buy" recommendation with a target price of 781p.