London afternoon: Rio dives on Chinalco rumours
4th Jun 2009 14:27
Disappointment with the Bank of England's decision not to expand its quantitative easing programme prompted a downturn in the market, wiping out the morning's gains. London's blue-chip index is also struggling with the burden of a weak mining sector, which has moved further into the red after rumou
Read moreLondon midday: Financials lead rally
4th Jun 2009 12:03
The Bank of England's interest rate decision was every bit the non-event economists had been predicting, with the key lending rate left unchanged at 0.25% while no further changes to the quantitative easing programme have been made. Equities remain slightly firmer, with financials recovering some o
Read moreLondon open: Stocks post slim gains
4th Jun 2009 08:22
London's top stocks are posting slight gains in early deals ahead of the Bank of England's interest rate decision later today with supermarkets doing well. Wm Morrison made a good start to the new trading year, with sales growth well ahead of the sector norm. Like for like sales improved by 8.2%, o
Read moreEasyJet May traffic up 1.8%
4th Jun 2009 07:26
Budget airline easyJet posted a 1.8% rise in passengers in May as travellers continued taking advantage of low cost fares amid difficult economic conditions. The firm flew 3.95m passengers during the month, compared with 3.88m last May. Load factor, which represents the number of passengers as a
Read moreThursday newspaper round-up: BT, Barclays, HSBC
14th May 2009 06:07
BT could face a pension-fund deficit of more than £11bn, according to independent pensions expert John Ralfe. Mr Ralfe estimates that under "true market valuations" the hole in BT's pension could have ballooned to over £11bn - more than the market capitalisation of the former state-owned telecoms co
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