London close: Lower finish for FTSE 100
15th Oct 2010 16:38
London finished in the red heading into the weekend after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's comments saying he sees the case for 'further action' to stimulate the US economy failed to stir up much excitement. 'There would appear - all else being equal - to be a case for further action,' Berna
Read moreSector movers: Insurers under the weather
15th Oct 2010 14:41
Insurers have been clobbered by a downgrade of the whole sector by Citigroup. RSA, Standard Life and Legal & General all retreat but it is insurance firm Old Mutual that is the main casualty after banking giant HSBC said is not going to go through with its proposed acquisition of a controlling stak
Read moreLondon afternoon: BT boosted by government deal
15th Oct 2010 14:23
Leading shares are mixed with traders reluctant to take on big positions ahead of this afternoon's speech from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. The market is hoping that Bernanke will provide clues to the Fed's plans for a possible resumption of quantitative easing. Insurers and miners remai
Read moreLondon midday: Old Mutual sinks on HSBC withdrawal
15th Oct 2010 12:36
Insurers are leading the market lower on a day when investors are, in any case, reluctant to commit new funds ahead of this afternoon's speech from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. Citigroup has downgraded the insurance sector, prompting sharp mark-downs in the prices of RSA, Standard Life a
Read moreLondon close: Sluggish Footsie limps higher
10th Sep 2010 16:38
Modest gains on Wall Street failed to spur London into action and the leading share index closed just a few points higher. US shares were boosted by economic figures showing wholesale inventories jumped by 1.3% in July, ahead of estimates, and sales at distributors rose by 0.6%. Among companies he
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Financials move higher
10th Sep 2010 16:05
Financials are pushing the Footsie higher. Interdealer broker ICAP is the best performer with Aviva, 3i, Admiral, Lloyds and Legal & General not far behind. Miner ENRC continues to decline because of its dispute with First Quantum concerning ENRC's acquisition of a majority interest in Camrose Re
Read moreLondon afternoon: Main index little moved
10th Sep 2010 14:39
We're little changed from last night's close as Wall Street opens, with a largely bright financials sector offset by mostly weaker commodity plays. Most banks have done well - Barclays excluded - on hopes that new banking rules announced this weekend will be favourable. Regulators are meeting this
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Schroders moves higher
9th Aug 2010 15:31
The rising stock market and last week's strong interim figures have made fund manager Schroders the best performer in the Footsie. Funds under management were £164bn at the end of June 2010, up from £148.4bn at the end of 2009. Legal & General and Barclays - the shares go ex-dividend on Wednesday
Read moreLondon midday: Blue chips power ahead
9th Aug 2010 12:11
Footsie is powering forward on the back of strong performances from financials and miners. Lonmin and Kazakhmys are the best performing miners, while among financials the stand-out stocks are spread around the insurance (Legal & General, Prudential), banking (Barclays), fund management (Schroders )
Read moreThursday tips round-up: Legal & General, Taylor Wimpey, Mouchel
5th Aug 2010 06:10
From an investor perspective, there was an awful lot to like about Legal & General's results this time round. The company comfortably beat consensus forecasts on virtually every metric you'd care to look at, returning a pre-tax profit of £537m (against last time's £143m loss) and hiking the dividend
Read moreLondon close: Rally falls short
4th Aug 2010 16:50
The FTSE 100 briefly made it into positive territory in the afternoon session but that only lured out more sellers and the blue-chip index closed slightly down on the day. Shares in Next remained in the doghouse all day, not so much because of the performance in the first half of its financial yea
Read moreLondon midday: Stocks start to recover
4th Aug 2010 12:08
Leading share prices have come off the bottom but the FTSE 100 remains in arrears, following mixed news on the corporate front. Shares in Next are sharply lower. The fashion retailer has noticed a 'cooling' in consumers' demand in recent months, but still expects profits this year to rise by betwee
Read moreLondon open: Blue chips lower on mixed results
4th Aug 2010 08:40
London has made a quiet start after a decline on Wall Street overnight and mixed trading statements this morning. Lloyds is very much back in the black after posting a profit of £1.6bn for the first half of 2010, twice as much as some analysts had forecast. The bank, which lost almost £4bn this tim
Read moreLondon pre-open: Stocks to pull back
4th Aug 2010 07:30
Early losses look likely in London this morning as investors react to a decline on Wall Street overnight. Futures prices currently indicate a 22-point decline for the FTSE 100 when trading starts shortly. Lloyds is very much back in the black after posting a profit of £1.6bn for the first half of
Read moreL&G beats forecasts, sees mixed outlook
4th Aug 2010 07:04
Insurance giant Legal & General (L&G) topped market expectations with its interim figures and has rewarded shareholders with a 20% hike in the dividend. European Embedded Value (EEV) operating profit in the first half of 2010 was £589m, down from £656m the year before but ahead of most broker forec
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