London close: Commodity slide hits Footsie
13th Jan 2010 16:32
Footsie ended the day firmly in the red with low commodity prices helping to offset positive broker coverage. With the oil price below $80, oil titans Royal Dutch Shell and BP found themselves on traders' sell lists. BG Group also slipped even after HSBC upped its price target for the stock from 13
Read moreLondon afternoon: Leading shares mixed
13th Jan 2010 14:57
Leading shares are mixed having picked up a little over the lunch time session, helped by a firmer start on Wall Street. With the oil price below $80, oil titans Royal Dutch Shell and BP find themselves on traders' sell lists, but BG Group makes headway after HSBC upped its price target for the st
Read moreTesco/British Land JV completes £315m refinancing
13th Jan 2010 13:46
A 50/50 joint venture between British Land and supermarket chain Tesco has completed the refinance of its retail portfolio with a new £315m five-year term loan. Tesco BL Properties Limited (TBL), set up in 1999, used the funds to repay the existing bank loan on its scheduled maturity date. A new l
Read moreWednesday newspaper round-up: Google, Cadbury, British Land
13th Jan 2010 06:32
Google, the internet search engine, has set itself at odds with the authorities in China by declaring that it will stop censoring search results on its Chinese website. In a surprise announcement, the group issued a veiled attack at Chinese censors and said it was prepared to shut down its operatio
Read moreLondon close: RBS leads the charge
4th Jan 2010 17:12
A strong start to the year on Wall Street gave London a boost, prompting the blue-chip index to finish at its highest point for the day. Part-nationalised lender Royal Bank of Scotland's led the advance after Exane BNP Paribas suggested that 'fundamental (rather than purely speculative) investor in
Read moreLondon afternoon: Buoyant Wall St. lifts London
4th Jan 2010 14:38
Shares added to the morning's gains over the lunchtime session, as investors correctly predicted a firm opening on Wall Street. The sale of Royal Bank of Scotland's Pakistan unit has fallen through after the deal failed to get the necessary regulatory approvals and complete before the 31 December d
Read moreLondon midday: Broker tip lifts RBS
4th Jan 2010 12:10
Leading shares moved into consolidation mode late in the morning session, with resource stocks the best performers. Cairn Energy remains the top gainer on news that the oil explorer has secured a second drilling rig to assist its exploration programme in the Disko West area offshore Greenland in th
Read moreLondon close: Footsie ends year 22% higher
31st Dec 2009 12:48
More gains for FTSE 100 on the last day of 2009 capped a year of strong recovery from the ravages of the economic crisis. The leading share index posted a 22% rise - its best yearly performance since 1997 -as shares recovered from the sharp declines that began as the financial crisis intensified t
Read moreSegro disposes of retail stakes
30th Dec 2009 09:24
Industrial property group Segro has sold its stake in two shopping centres, Surrey Quays in London and Clifton Moor in Yorkshire, to British Land for £26.9m. Segro invested in the centres 20 years ago in a joint venture with Tesco, which is the main tenant at both sites. In a statement, Ian Sutcl
Read moreLondon close: Blue chips at 15-month high
29th Dec 2009 16:48
London's blue chip index closed at a new 15-month high having regained all of the ground lost after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Footsie was last this high on 12 September 2008 when it stood at 5,416. The following day Lehman Brothers went bust. London is now the seventh stock market to regain
Read moreLondon close: Footsie at 15-month high
24th Dec 2009 12:28
Miners pushed London sharply higher in a shortened trading session Thursday, getting the leading index up to 5,400 briefly and to its highest close since September 2008. Silver producer Fresnillo is top of the table on stronger metal prices, with BHP Billiton, Vedanta Resources and Rio Tinto also h
Read moreBroker tips: Lloyds, British Land, Micro Focus
9th Dec 2009 12:59
UBS has adjusted its price target for Lloyds Banking Group to account for its ex-rights status. The Swiss broker said forecasts are largely unchanged since its last look at the end of November, which followed confirmation of the cash call and enhanced capital note (ECN) conversion terms. It keeps
Read moreBroker snap: Property sector to calm down
9th Dec 2009 12:56
US bank JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is looking forward to a return to dull normality for the property sector in 2010 after its strong recovery since March. 'The rally is over, but we see 12% total return for 2010,' predicts the JPM property research team. 'Our detailed 2010 roadmap indicates that property
Read moreLondon close: Rate rise fears fuel late slide
4th Dec 2009 17:17
Euphoria over the better than expected US jobless figures proved short-lived as week-end profit taking took hold and miners headed underground. Metal prices weakened in the afternoon session, taking mining stocks with them, as some pundits suggested that with the better than expected jobless figure
Read moreLondon afternoon: Stocks bounce into the blue after US jobs
4th Dec 2009 14:20
Share prices have surged higher as the keenly watched US monthly jobs figures showed a big drop in the number losing their jobs and an unexpected drop in the level of US unemployment. Miners are leading the rally with Rio Tinto the best performer. Other gainers include ENRC and oil explorer Cairn E
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