London midday: Oil fuelled advance
27th Oct 2009 12:14
Better than expected results from BP have given the market a lift but banking shares have declined to join the party. Index heavyweight BP kicked off the oil majors results season with third quarter figures that showed a smaller than feared drop in profits. Profit attributable to shareholders came
Read moreLondon open: BP heads advance
27th Oct 2009 08:35
BP has helped investors get over last night's three-figure dive on Wall Street, leading London higher in early deals. Index heavyweight BP kicked off the oil majors results season with third quarter figures that showed a smaller than feared drop in profits. Profit attributable to shareholders came
Read moreLondon close: Footsie suffers reversal of fortunes
26th Oct 2009 16:21
Stocks had looked like making a decent start to the week, but a dramatic and sudden sell-off on Wall Street quickly sent London into the red. The Dow Jones turned an early three-digit gain into a 100-point loss as US analyst Dick Bove downgraded Fifth Third Bancorp, SunTrust Banks and US Bancorp.
Read moreBarclays buying Standard Life Bank
26th Oct 2009 13:06
Barclays has agreed to pay £226m in cash for Standard Life Bank and will look at joint opportunities with Standard Life in the UK retail long-term savings and investments sector. The UK bank will get a savings book of about £5.5bn from insurer Standard Life and a mortgage book with outstanding bala
Read moreWednesday newspaper round-up: BHP Billiton, BAA, National Express
21st Oct 2009 06:20
BHP Billiton on Wednesday added its voice to tentative signs of a more broad-based global recovery when the Anglo-Australian mining group reported record iron ore production in the three months ended September. In its latest production report, the world's biggest miner said developed economies wer
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Barclays sale boosts Sainsbury's
20th Oct 2009 14:17
Barclays and J Sainsbury are dominating the FTSE 100 movers today on the back of the same story. Qatar's sovereign wealth fund Qatar Holding is selling 379.22m shares that it is converting from warrants at an exercise price of 197.775p each, but said it will remain a long-term shareholder in the b
Read moreLondon midday: Banks drag Footsie down
20th Oct 2009 12:04
Footsie made a valiant effort to finish the morning in the blue but came up just short, thanks largely to the weakness of financial stocks. Barclays is sharply lower, after Qatar's sovereign wealth fund said it was selling half of the warrants it holds in the bank. Qatar Holding is selling 379.22
Read moreBarclays drops on Qatari share sale
20th Oct 2009 09:25
Barclays dropped almost 5% after Qatar's sovereign wealth fund said it was selling half of the warrants it holds in the bank. Qatar Holding is selling 379.22m shares that it is converting from warrants at an exercise price of 197.775p each, but said it will remain a long-term shareholder in the ban
Read moreLondon open: Footsie struggles despite bumper Apple crop
20th Oct 2009 08:38
Excitement in the US over better than expected third quarter results from iPhone giant Apple has not crossed the Atlantic with UK blue chips struggling to make headway. Banks are proving a drag. Barclays is lower, seemingly on the news that its president Bob Diamond has turned down the chance to be
Read moreTuesday newspaper round-up: Bank tax, Apple, Nicholas Levene
20th Oct 2009 06:20
The Government has backed away in the face of speculation that it will impose a windfall tax on banks to punish them for paying excessive bonuses. The move came yesterday as City lawyers warned that rushing through legislation to crack down on bonuses would be unworkable and a legal minefield. Down
Read moreUpdate: FSA to protect borrowers from themselves
19th Oct 2009 13:48
City watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has unveiled a range of proposed changes to mortgage regulation designed to 'protect consumers more from themselves.' The headline-grabbing change proposed by the FSA is the scrapping of self-certification mortgages, with the regulatory body taci
Read moreFSA to outlaw self-certification mortgages
19th Oct 2009 09:17
Self-certification mortgages are for the scrap-heap, the Financial Services Authority said Monday, as it proposed a shake-up of mortgage regulations. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said the onus of verifying affordability when a mortgage application is considered should be on the lender, wi
Read moreMonday newspaper round-up: National Express, Bank tax, BP
19th Oct 2009 06:18
National Express on Sunday night confirmed that it had received another takeover approach from Stagecoach despite its rival walking away from a bid last month. The bus and trains group said it would consider the Stagecoach offer but would continue to work on an equity fund-raising to strengthen its
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: ENRC, RBS, Lloyds
18th Oct 2009 12:17
Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC), the Ftse 100 metals and mining giant, is planning to buy out its founders' African assets in a potentially controversial deal. The deal, which has not been valued but could be worth more than $2bn (£1.2bn), would be paid entirely or mostly in shares rat
Read moreLondon midday: Looking for direction
13th Oct 2009 12:14
The Footsie has crawled into positive territory, helped by miners recovering from their weak opening. Kazakhmys is the pick of the sector after revealing it is in talks with the China Development Bank and JSC Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna regarding a potential corporate loan facility of aroun
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