London close: Flat finish ahead of Royal Wedding
28th Apr 2011 16:46
Stocks finished flat heading into the long weekend, though there was no shortage of company updates for investors to digest. Costa Coffee and Premier Inn owner Whitbread shrugged off the economic difficulties said to be plaguing Britain as it upped its dividend by 17% and announced plans to step up
Read moreLondon midday: FTSE 100 seeking direction after updates
28th Apr 2011 12:05
A stream of updates from big-hitters such as Shell and Unilever has failed to give the top share index any overall sense of direction. Costa Coffee and Premier Inn owner Whitbread shrugged off the economic difficulties said to be plaguing Britain as it upped its dividend by 17% and announced plans
Read moreLondon open: Stocks edge higher
28th Apr 2011 08:31
Shares have got off to a firmer start as the stream of company updates continues. Costa Coffee and Premier Inn owner Whitbread shrugged off the economic difficulties said to be plaguing Britain as it upped its dividend by 17% and announced plans to step up expansion plans. Revenues in the year to 3
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Aggreko leaps on full year guidance
27th Apr 2011 13:39
Temporary power supplier Aggreko has surged ahead after saying it expects its full year profits to be slightly ahead of 2010 after a strong start to the year. Airline IAG is firmly highly, continuing from strong gains made yesterday. Engineers GKN, IMI and Weir Group are also among the best perfo
Read moreLondon close: Company updates lift FTSE 100
26th Apr 2011 16:33
Shares were boosted by well-received earnings news at home and overseas. Shares sprang into life after a sluggish start, helped by well-received updates from US giants such as carmaker Ford and conglomerate 3M. There were also a few big risers here in the FTSE 250. Shares in Heritage Oil jumped af
Read moreLondon midday: Calm before the storm
26th Apr 2011 12:07
Shares are little changed on a quiet beginning to a week that will spark into life tomorrow with a stream of updates and preliminary first quarter GDP figures. There are some interesting movers today though. Shares in Heritage Oil jumped after the oil explorer announced that it is buying back $100
Read moreLondon open: Miners under pressure
26th Apr 2011 08:29
Trading has got off to a quiet start after the Easter break, though the mining sector is suffering from falling metals prices. However, it is news of a strike at its main mine that is hurting Hochschild Mining. The Argentine Mining Labour Association initiated the action at the San Jose silver and
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Autonomy tops risers on record earnings
21st Apr 2011 13:23
Data search software firm Autonomy is topping the risers after it posted record earnings in the first quarter as it benefitted from the increasing popularity of cloud computing, a means of storing data remotely. Retail giant Next is wanted after UBS hiked up its forecasts on a better margin outloo
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Burberry tops the risers
19th Apr 2011 13:48
Luxury fashion brand Burberry is the best performing blue chip after announcing that it expects profits for the financial year to March 31 to be at the top end of expectations after a strong performance in the final few months. Miners Fresnillo, Anglo American, Lonmin, Xstrata, BHP Billiton and Ve
Read moreLondon close: Retailers lift Footsie higher
13th Apr 2011 16:08
While the Footsie came off its daily highs, it still managed to post a gain of close to 1% as strong results from ASOS boosted the retail sector higher. Meanwhile, stocks were recovering from the 89 point sell-off yesterday, its worst one-day fall since mid-March. Strong growth overseas helped the
Read moreLondon midday: FTSE 100 wins back losses
13th Apr 2011 12:03
The top share index has won back most of yesterday's losses, with a rally in the mining sector driving the gains. Fresnillo leads the large cap miners higher. The Mexican miner's silver production slipped slightly in the quarter to 31 March, but expanded capacity at its Soledad-Dipolos mine helped
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: ARM heads the risers
13th Apr 2011 11:39
Chip designer ARM Holdings was the best performing stock on Wednesday, helped by some positive comment from the broker ING, which expects ARM to meet its guidance. Household products giant Reckitt Benckiser was also a big mover, boosted by JP Morgan who upped its earnings per share estimates by 3%
Read moreLondon open: FTSE 100 advances as miners rally
13th Apr 2011 08:30
A rally in the mining sector has dragged the top share index to within touching distance of the 6,000 point mark it has been bobbing around since the start of the year. Fresnillo leads the large cap miners higher. The Mexican miner's silver production slipped slightly in the quarter to 31 March, bu
Read moreFresnillo silver production slips
13th Apr 2011 08:04
Precious metals prices have been soaring recently but Mexican miner Fresnillo's silver production slipped slightly in the quarter to 31 March. The company produced 10.1m ounces of silver during the three-month period, a decrease of 2.2% from the first quarter of 2010. The company's main silver prod
Read moreSector movers: Falling metals prices pressures mining sector lower
12th Apr 2011 14:18
The miners are on the decline Tuesday, helped lower by the falling metals prices. Copper and gold futures have fallen as the escalating crisis in Japan has bought about concerns over demand. Mining titans Kazakhmys, Eurasian Natural Resources Corp, Anglo American, Antofagasta and Fresnillo are all
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