London midday: Banks buoy Footsie
5th Jan 2010 12:18
Strength in financial stocks is helping Footsie offset declines in the retail sector. RBS adds to yesterday's stellar gains and is joined higher by fellow banks Barclays and Lloyds. Also among today's big gainers is the hedge fund manager Man Group, which has benefited from some upbeat coverage fr
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Miners buoyed by China talk
24th Dec 2009 11:13
Miners continue to drive Footsie higher, with silver miner Fresnillo leading the sector higher today. Reports yesterday quoted Chinese sources as saying that it could start to increase its imports of commodities for its strategic reserves at an "appropriate" time. This was taken as a signal China
Read moreThursday newspaper round-up: Fullers, Foxtons, Mama
24th Dec 2009 06:40
Foxtons is to appeal against a High Court ruling that millions of pounds of fees it has charged landlords are unfair, after the banks' overdraft charges victory gave the estate agent hope that it could win a renewed legal battle against the Office of Fair Trading. The decision to appeal means that
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Miners on the march
23rd Dec 2009 12:27
Miners are among the top risers, including Rio Tinto, which has accepted a $2.025bn offer for its Alcan Packaging pharmaceutical, tobacco and food divisions from the packaging group Amcor as it continues its programme of asset sales to ease its debt pile. Kazakh pair ENRC and Kazakhmys are the top
Read moreOFT drops action on bank charges
22nd Dec 2009 07:09
The Office of Fair Trading has decided to drop its action to curb bank charges after last month's ruling by the Supreme Court in favour of the banks. 'The Supreme Court judgment was not the outcome we had hoped for and was disappointing for many bank customers. Having now considered in detail all t
Read moreLondon Close: Footsie posts strong gain
21st Dec 2009 16:54
Footsie ended the day almost 2% higher after a strong performance throughout the day. The positive opening of Wall Street gave a further boost later in the afternoon. The Dow has jumped over 100 points helped by optimism that the $800bn plus Health Care Bill could get approved sooner rather than l
Read moreLondon afternoon: Dow gains lift Footsie
21st Dec 2009 14:47
Footsie is pushing forward following a strong start on Wall St fuelled by weakness in the dollar and related gains for the miners. The Dow has jumped over 80 points helped by optimism that the $800bn plus Health Care Bill could get approved sooner rather than later. Over here, Cairn Energy is sti
Read moreBroker tips: Banks, GKN, Luminar
21st Dec 2009 12:51
The warning by the Basel Committee last week that banks will have to face lower returns in future has not dissuaded Deutsche Bank from extolling the virtues of investing in the shares of UK banks Barclays, Lloyds Banking and Royal Bank of Scotland. The German bank has reiterated its 'buy' recommend
Read moreBroker snap: UK banks still look cheap
21st Dec 2009 12:36
The warning by the Basel Committee last week that banks will have to face lower returns in future has not dissuaded Deutsche Bank from extolling the virtues of investing in the shares of UK banks Barclays, Lloyds Banking and Royal Bank of Scotland. The German bank has reiterated its 'buy' recommend
Read moreLondon midday: Oil fired Footsie
21st Dec 2009 12:00
Oil is fuelling the Footsie's rise today, with support from back-in-favour banks. Cairn Energy has secured a drill ship to get an early start on its exploration activities in Greenland. The oil company said drilling in Greenland will start a year ahead of schedule after it came to a deal with Hess
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Cairn in demand
21st Dec 2009 11:26
Cairn Energy jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 movers on hopes for its prospects in Greenland after it secured a drill ship to start a year ahead of schedule. Barclays has got a lift from Deutsche Bank, which has reiterated its buy recommendations despite the threat of the extra capital requiremen
Read moreLondon open: Blue chips move higher
21st Dec 2009 08:46
Footsie has moved higher following a positive finish for US shares on Friday. Second line oil groups Cairn and Tullow Oil are the best performers following the spike in the crude price on Friday on renewed tension between Iran and Iraq. Banks have also rallied a little after heavy falls last week
Read moreLondon close: Late decline wipes out gains
18th Dec 2009 16:43
Footsie ended lower having spent most of the day in positive territory. Financials led the market down and cruise operator Carnival's lower quarterly profit did not help. Most of the miners ended the day higher but they lost some of their earlier gains. Having been hit hard yesterday following the
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Miners decouple from dollar
18th Dec 2009 14:47
Kazakhmys, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Vedanta and Xstrata are the best of a generally buoyant mining sector, which had been weak recently as the dollar has rallied against the euro. The best performing blue-chip is knee and hip joint supplier Smith & Nephew after UBS bumped up its price target for
Read moreLondon afternoon: Stocks in consolidation mode
18th Dec 2009 14:21
Blue-chips moved sideways over the lunch-time session, consolidating the morning's gains. Goldman Sachs has given a lift to the oil sector, tipping BP as the 'clear winner' among oil companies next year, though it also rates UK operators BG and Royal Dutch Shell over their continental European coun
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