London 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
Read moreWednesday preview: Lloyds Banking, Legal & General, Next
3rd Aug 2010 15:26
The UK government is showing a paper profit on its 41% stake in high street banking giant Lloyds and should have further cause for celebration when the bank unveils profits for the first half of the year on Wednesday. Expectations are for Lloyds to declare pre-tax profits in excess of £800m, a shar
Read moreUK Life Insurers To Post Higher 1H Earnings, Dividends
2nd Aug 2010 13:16
By Vladimir Guevarra Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Many of the U.K.'s top life insurance companies are expected over the next three weeks to report slightly higher first-half earnings and interim dividends, boosted by cuts in costs, a focus on margins and some recovery in sales
Read moreWeek Ahead: Banks, insurers, Shire
30th Jul 2010 10:50
Results season for insurers and banks gets underway in the first week of August, with Legal & General, RSA Group, Aviva and Old Mutual from the former sector and HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland from the banking sector all set to weigh in. HSBC ge
Read moreDana Petroleum Hasn't Convinced Holders Better Bid Exists-Sources
28th Jul 2010 18:46
By Sarah Kent Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Dana Petroleum PLC's (DNX.LN) chief executive Thomas Cross has so far failed to convince shareholders to hold out for a better offer than the 1,800 pence-a-share approach put forward by Korea National Oil Corp., people familiar with t
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