London open: Lloyds unveils record cash call
24th Nov 2009 08:52
London's blue chips have fallen back after yesterday's strong gains, with Lloyds Banking getting most of the attention. Lloyds Banking Group priced its world record £13.5bn rights issue at 37p a share, a discount of 59.5% to last night's closing price. Britain's third-largest lender will offer s
Read moreLondon pre-open: Negative start ahead
24th Nov 2009 07:31
London's blue chips are expected to start around 50 points lower, falling back from yesterdays triple-digit gains. Footsie closed more than 100 points higher on Monday thanks to a record price for gold, an early rally on Wall Street and strength across the financial sector. Lloyds Banking Group h
Read moreAlliance Trust 'cautiously optimistic'
24th Nov 2009 07:17
Investment company Alliance Trust beefed up its exposure to equities to 90.6% during the quarter ending 31 October, with particular focus on stocks that will benefit from an upturn in economic activity. The company thinks the consumer will remain subdued for some time, so is underweight in Consumer
Read moreLondon close: US sparks late rally
5th Nov 2009 16:21
A smaller than expected increase to the Bank of England's quantitative easing programme and and early surge on Wall Street helped Footsie overcome early losses and close in the blue. The central bank voted to pump an additional £25bn into the economy, taking QE to £200bn. It also kept interest rate
Read moreLondon afternoon: Footsie climbs into blue
5th Nov 2009 14:13
A smaller than expected increase to the Bank of England's quantitative easing (QE) programme and stronger US futures have hauled London into the blue. The central bank voted to pump an additional £25bn into the economy, taking QE to £200bn. It also kept interest rates at 0.5%. "The fact that the M
Read moreLondon midday: BoE expands QE programme
5th Nov 2009 10:41
London's top stocks are trading quietly after their initial fall as investors mull the Bank of England's decision to extend its quantitative easing programme by a further £25bn to £200bn. Telecoms group Cable & Wireless has dropped after it revived plans to split itself in to two parts. The announc
Read moreLondon open: Shares start lower
5th Nov 2009 08:17
London's top stocks opened lower in line with the weaker trend seen in the afternoon session on Wall Street and losses overnight on Asian markets. The market has much to occupy itself ahead of the announcement later today of the Bank of England's decision on whether to extend its quantitative easi
Read moreAlliance Trust hires L&G's Trotter as FD
5th Nov 2009 07:48
Investment company Alliance Trust has named Legal & General man Alan Trotter as its new finance director. Trotter is currently group corporate development director at L&G and also responsible for the UK central finance function. He'll join Alliance Trust in early 2010. The 41-year-old qualified as
Read moreTuesday tips round-up: Alliance Trust, MP Evans, Allergy Therapeutics
22nd Sep 2009 06:47
Alliance Trust's investment stance means that it is always in danger of trailing more heavily geared rivals when the stock market runs sharply ahead. However, on a rolling total return basis it continues to fare well ? ranked first out of its six largest peers over both one and two years. Further,
Read moreAlliance Trust half-year NAV up 6.8%
21st Sep 2009 07:44
Investment company Alliance Trust increased net asset value by 6.8% in the half-year and achieved total shareholder return of 8.8%. Net asset value rose to 338.3p as at 31 July from 316.8p as at 31 January. Total shareholder return for the six-months period compared to a total return of 14.2% on th
Read moreLondon close: Footsie buoyed by global rally
1st Jun 2009 16:35
London's top stocks finished with stellar gains as optimism about the global economy boosted markets worldwide. Hopes of a recovering economy pushed forward commodities. Oil is near $68 per barrel, while copper climbed to $5,000 per tonne, its highest since October. Gold rose to $985 an ounce. C
Read moreLondon afternoon: UK joins global rally
1st Jun 2009 14:26
Footsie is still going well as markets rally globally amid further hopes that the world economy is beginning to recover. Oil rose to $68 per barrel, while copper climbed to $5,000 per tonne, its highest since October. Gold rose to $985 an ounce. Copper miner Antofagasta is one of the best perfor
Read moreLondon open: Early surge for Footsie
1st Jun 2009 08:37
London has opened sharply higher after gains in Asia overnight and with strong showings by the mining and oil sectors. There are only a handful of fallers this morning so far with the miners and oil stocks pushing the index higher. Xstrata, Vedanta and Lonmin are leading the way with Cairn Energy t
Read moreLondon pre-open: Asian rally to lift London
1st Jun 2009 07:44
Buoyed by strong performances by Asian markets, London looks set to open sharply higher, with City sources predicting a 75 point jump at the outset of trading. A sharp rally in equities from March helped investment company Alliance Trust post a slight rise in its net asset value (NAV) during the fi
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