London midday: Stocks rise as market prices in strong US jobs data
8th Mar 2013 11:36
Markets maintained their positive bias on Friday morning as traders showed confidence ahead of a key reading of labour-market strength in the US later on, the February employment report. Increased risk appetite in London meant that financial stocks were leading the way higher today. Expectations r
Read moreBroker tips: HSBC, Schroders, Centrica
8th Mar 2013 11:12
Nomura has retained its 'buy' rating and 900p target price for global banking giant HSBC after its full-year results earlier this week, highlighting the company's strong cost-control momentum, improving revenue outlook and strong capital position. On current valuations, the broker said that the imp
Read moreBroker snap: Nomura upbeat about improving outlook at HSBC
8th Mar 2013 09:46
Nomura has retained its 'buy' rating and 900p target price for global banking giant HSBC after its full-year results earlier this week, highlighting the company's strong cost-control momentum, improving revenue outlook and strong capital position. The bank's core tier-one (CT1) capital ratio (under
Read moreLondon open: Risk appetite increases ahead of US jobs report
8th Mar 2013 08:25
The FTSE 100 was firmly in positive territory on Friday morning ahead of the crucial US employment report due out this afternoon, with traders hoping that jobs figures could beat forecasts given the solid economic data seen as of late. The US jobs report, out at 13:30 London time, is expected to gi
Read moreHSBC to sell loan portfolios
5th Mar 2013 14:03
Banking giant HSBC on Tuesday unveiled plans for its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary HSBC Finance Corp (HFC) to sell its Personal Unsecured Loan and Personal Homeowner Loan portfolios. The portfolios will be sold to SpringCastle Acquisition, a Delaware-based company owned by Springleaf Finance an
Read moreTuesday broker round-up UPDATE
5th Mar 2013 07:15
Abcam: Investec raises target price from 466p to 484p and keeps a buy recommendation. Numis revises target price from 470p to 530p and maintains its buy ratng. Access Intelligence: Merchant Securities initiates with a target price of 7p and a buy recommendation. Amlin: Canaccord Genuity raises tar
Read moreTuesday newspaper round-up: GlaxoSmithKline, Credit crunch, HSBC
5th Mar 2013 06:44
Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust has slashed its exposure to UK equities by a third since the start of the year, to 200m pounds, in anticipation of a weaker pound and a correction in equity markets worldwide. Amongst others, it has cut its holdings of stock in the following corporations: Vodafone
Read moreLondon close: Chinese data and Italian uncertainty weigh on stocks
4th Mar 2013 17:16
UK stocks ended the session moderately lower on Monday, pushed into decline by concerns over a stricter mortgage policy introduced in China, in an effort to curb soaring property prices, and political tensions in Italy. The news out of Asia prompted declines amongst resources stocks on fears demand
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: GKN boosted by upgrade
4th Mar 2013 12:45
GKN shares rose into the top spot after Goldman Sachs raised its target price from 195p to 272p and upgraded the stock from sell to neutral. Capita Group followed closed behind after Jefferies raised its target price from 840p to 1,010p and kept a buy recommendation. The business process manager a
Read moreLondon midday: Chinese mortgage policy puts FTSE in the red
4th Mar 2013 12:00
UK stocks were sitting firmly in negative territory by midday on Monday, pushed into decline by concerns over a stricter mortgage policy introduced in China in an effort to curb soaring property prices. The news prompted declines amongst resources stocks on fears demand for building materials coul
Read moreLondon open: HSBC off following results
4th Mar 2013 08:07
Investors have come back from the weekend to find that the budget sequester in the US is in 'full-swing' after US President Barack Obama and Republicans failed to reach an agreement to avoid 85bn dollars in automatic federal budget cuts which will come into effect throughout what remains of this fis
Read moreHSBC full year 2012 results miss analysts' expectations
4th Mar 2013 07:06
FTSE 100-listed high street bank HSBC has reported a profit before tax of 20.6bn dollars (13.73bn pounds), down six per cent on 2011, including 5.2bn dollars of adverse fair value movements on own debt. The consensus estimate had been calling for a profit before tax of £14.272bn. The underlying pr
Read moreWeek ahead: Stage set for service sector PMIs and BoE
1st Mar 2013 16:56
The coming week will see the economic data flow ease up, although there are plenty of potentially market-moving events to watch out for. Foremost amongst those will be the monthly US employment report on Friday. It comes as investors are watching to see if consumption holds up Stateside following th
Read moreLondon close: Stocks rebound after upbeat US housing data
27th Feb 2013 17:08
Continuing upbeat data from the US housing sector boosted the FTSE 100 in afternoon trade on Wednesday, as stocks tracked Wall Street indices higher. Stocks sank yesterday (FTSE 100 down 1.3%, Cac 40 down 2.7% and FTSE MIB down 4.9%) in the wake of the Italian elections which revealed growing suppo
Read moreSector movers: UK banks gain despite FSA plan to increase competition
27th Feb 2013 15:46
Banking stocks in London were performing well on Wednesday afternoon, rebounding slightly after a political impasse in Italy hammered markets (especially cyclical stocks) the day before. RBS, Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC were in positive territory despite the news that the Financial Services Authority
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