3rd Dec 2009 08:21
Barclays and Lloyds are leading London's top stocks higher in early dealings on Thursday, though Royal Bank of Scotland is an exception. RBS has dropped on news that that the bank's board is threatening to resign en masse if Alistair Darling will veto the group's £1.5bn bonus pot. On the positive
Read more3rd Dec 2009 06:21
Alistair Darling is heading for a potentially disastrous showdown with Royal Bank of Scotland over plans to pay £1.5bn in bonuses to its staff. Darling is to be granted the right to veto bonus payments at the bank, which will soon be 84% owned by the taxpayer, but has been warned that doing so could
Read more2nd Dec 2009 17:09
Despite being weighed down by a number of ex-dividend stocks, Footsie finished the day in positive territory, with gains on miners outweighing losses on banks. With metals prices hardening, miners were in demand. Lonmin was the best performer after being raised to 'buy' by Investec, which also upgr
Read more2nd Dec 2009 13:21
UK banks have been under the cosh since news of the Dubai debt situation broke last week but their shares are still not cheap enough, according to Credit Suisse. 'UK bank share prices have fallen 10% in the last two weeks, but we calculate that they still imply long-term ROTE [return on tangible eq
Read more2nd Dec 2009 13:19
UK banks have been under the cosh since news of the Dubai debt situation broke last week but their shares are still not cheap enough, according to Credit Suisse. 'UK bank share prices have fallen 10% in the last two weeks, but we calculate that they still imply long-term ROTE [return on tangible eq
Read more2nd Dec 2009 06:32
Alistair Darling was heading for a clash with the City's biggest institutional shareholders last night after the Treasury seized control of the bonus pool at Royal Bank of Scotland. Institutional investors raised concerns about RBS's ability to compete with rivals after the Treasury demanded the ri
Read more1st Dec 2009 17:39
Barclays has completed the sale of its Barclays Global Investors (BGI) business to investment manager BlackRock for $15.2bn (£9.5bn). The deal, announced on 12 June, was partly paid for with 37.6m Blackrock shares, which gives UK bank Barclays a 19.9% stake in the US firm. Barclays said it expects
Read more29th Nov 2009 12:08
Abu Dhabi is this weekend putting together a rescue package for Dubai, its debt-laden Gulf neighbour, in an attempt to restore calm in panicked international markets, according to the Sunday Times. The FT adds that Dubai's government is preparing a campaign to persuade the holders of a bond due for
Read more26th Nov 2009 17:25
The London market wasn't helped by a technical glitch at the London Stock Exchange but it was never going to be a good day due to worries about the debt problems of Dubai. The fact that there was no trading for more than three hours just made investors even more nervous. The FTSE 100 fell by more
Read more26th Nov 2009 14:26
London Stock Exchange is one of the heaviest fallers in the FTSE 100 after the exchange operator was forced to suspend trading for more than three hours following a technical hiccup this morning. It had already come in for selling ahead of the shutdown as analysts fretted over how the Dubai debt si
Read more26th Nov 2009 14:18
Trading resumed on the London Stock Exchange at 2:00pm after the exchange's technical glitch, but prices are not looking any healthier than they were before the trading interruption. Banks are under the cosh on concerns over Dubai's debt situation. The government owned Dubai World, which has debts
Read more26th Nov 2009 12:16
With no sectors in the blue today amid heavy falls in equity prices, banks and miners are among the worst performers. Banks are under the cosh on concerns over Dubai's debt situation. The government owned Dubai World, which has debts of $59bn, has asked creditors if it can delay debt repayments due
Read more24th Nov 2009 16:48
London ended the day in the red as the FTSE 100 lost its earlier gains after Wall Street opened sharply lower. London did not sustain a short-lived rally in the late afternoon. The market seemed to initially ignore Bank of England governor Mervyn King's cautious comments to the House of Commons Tr
Read more24th Nov 2009 14:31
London continues to lack direction, with Bank of England governor Mervyn King's comments to the House of Commons Treasury select committee on the state of the economy having more of an effect on sterling than on share prices. With sterling dipping after King's comments, package holiday firms Thomas
Read more23rd Nov 2009 16:37
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. Gold has hit new highs, and that has led to sharp mark-ups in the price of gold miner Randgold and silver and gold miner Fresnillo. Elsewhe
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