London midday: Footsie drifts into the red
20th May 2010 12:07
Footsie dipped into negative territory shortly before the lunch time session commenced, with miners largely responsible for the downturn. Rio Tinto leads the miners lower after Bank of America Merrill Lynch removed the stock from its "Europe 1" list and downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy".
Read moreLondon open: Markets start well
20th May 2010 08:46
London's leading shares are posting good gains following the heavy sell-off yesterday. Gas and electricity pipeline grid operator National Grid is a big faller though. The group announced a fully underwritten rights issue to raise £3.2bn as it posted a 57% rise in full year profits. Pre-tax profit
Read moreCairn Energy prepares Greenland wells
20th May 2010 07:36
Oil explorer Cairn Energy said it is preparing a four well exploration programme in Greenland for this summer. The programme is offshore West Disko with the first field expected to spud early July 2010. The group said the average gross field production for the first quarter totalled 74,486 barrels
Read moreLondon close: Volcano disruption holds back shares
19th Apr 2010 16:47
Trading was overshadowed by the volcano cloud that is keeping planes grounded across Europe, with updates on the impact of the disruption appearing throughout the day, but the leading share index finished just a few points lower. British Airways fell after saying it estimates that lost passenger an
Read moreLondon afternoon: RBS defies the trend
19th Apr 2010 14:37
The FTSE 100 briefly dropped below 5700 over the lunchtime session as share prices continued to drift lower. Travel stocks remain the big story as the major players start to count the cost of the disruption from the Icelandic volcano cloud. IATA, the international air transport association, has es
Read moreLondon midday: Shares still under a cloud
19th Apr 2010 12:28
UK shares remain under a cloud, with travel stocks coming under selling pressure as the disruption from the Icelandic volcano cloud continues to disrupt air travel. IATA, the international air transport association, has estimated that the airlines industry has lost $250m per day from the grounding o
Read moreLondon pre-open: Decline to continue
19th Apr 2010 07:48
After Friday's shake-out the downward trend looks set to continue at the start of this week with City traders forecasting the Footsie will open around 30 points lower. More than 100,000 customers of TUI Travel due to return home yesterday were left stranded by the ongoing flight ban imposed after t
Read moreCairn Energy plugs well in Tunisia
19th Apr 2010 07:11
Cairn Energy subsidiary MedOil has plugged and abandoned a well offshore Tunisia in the Louza block after finding only minor evidence of light oil. The M'Sela West 1 well reached a total depth of 2,555m in the Serdj formation. "Although minor evidence of light oil was observed, the expected Isis
Read moreLondon afternoon: Sleepwalking lower
26th Mar 2010 14:05
It's been a good week for the Footsie but it looks set to end with a whimper rather than a bang. With corporate news thin on the ground broker commentary is driving much of the action. Unilever is downgraded to neutral from 'overweight' by HSBC on sales volumes concerns. Hi-tech weapons group Qi
Read moreCairn boss raises nearly £3m
24th Mar 2010 16:49
Cairn Energy chief executive Sir Bill Gammell has raised nearly £3m from a share sale. Sir Bill sold 721,042 shares in the oil and gas producer and explorer at 414.4p each. He retains 3.21m shares, which is equivalent to 0.23% of the company's share capital. There have been two other sales by Si
Read moreWednesday tips round-up: Salamander, Cairn, Halfords
24th Mar 2010 06:45
Salamander Energy shares are trading on a December 2010 earnings multiple of 17.6 times, in anticipation of their drilling programme. Salamander remains a speculative, high-risk play based on its high-impact drilling programme over the course of this year. Being high risk, investors should not inv
Read moreLondon close: Further boost for shares
23rd Mar 2010 16:43
Rising commodity prices, US strength and some well-received company updates sent London to a fresh 21-month closing high Tuesday. The leading index hasn't finished up at this level since 19 June 2008 and is just one decent session away from breaking through 5,700. Cairn Energy was easily the most
Read moreLondon afternoon: Full steam ahead for Carnival
23rd Mar 2010 14:15
London's leading shares consolidated gains over the lunch-time trading session after notching up solid gains in the morning. Cairn Energy remains the stand-out performer among blue-chips by some distance. The oil group raised its forecast for peak production from its Indian assets by over a third t
Read moreLondon midday: Cairn caps a good morning
23rd Mar 2010 11:57
Some of the steam has gone out of Footsie after a bright start, but it is still posting decent gains. Cairn Energy is the stand-out performer by some distance. The oil group raised its forecast for peak production from its Indian assets by over a third to 240,000 barrels per day, plus it also boost
Read moreLondon open: Footsie pushes on
23rd Mar 2010 08:48
Footsie has moved higher in early dealings after a good showing from US shares overnight. Cairn Energy is the star performer so far. The oil group raised its forecast for peak production from its Indian assets by over a third to 240,000 barrels per day. The group posted net losses for 2009 of $60.7
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