Legal & General finance chief invests £670,000
19th Oct 2009 16:00
Legal & General's new chief financial officer Dr Nigel Wilson has bought £670,000 worth of shares less than seven weeks after joining the board of the insurer. Dr Wilson tookup his appointment on 1 September 2009. He did not own any shares at the time. Dr Wilson bought 760,948 shares at 88p each o
Read moreLondon close: Retailers weigh on Footsie
13th Oct 2009 16:46
A poor performance from US shares dragged Footsie into the red and the leading index finished the day with substantial losses. Retailers were out of sorts despite some moderately optimistic news from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) concerning retail sales. The BRC said annual retail sales growt
Read moreLondon afternoon: Retailers sag after sales data
13th Oct 2009 14:26
Leading shares remain mixed, with the Footsie easing back into the red over the lunchtime session. Retailers are out of sorts despite some moderately optimistic news from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) concerning retail sales. The BRC said annual retail sales growth in September accelerated to
Read moreLondon midday: Looking for direction
13th Oct 2009 12:14
The Footsie has crawled into positive territory, helped by miners recovering from their weak opening. Kazakhmys is the pick of the sector after revealing it is in talks with the China Development Bank and JSC Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna regarding a potential corporate loan facility of aroun
Read moreLondon close: Best finish in 12½ months
12th Oct 2009 16:48
UK share prices finished at their best levels in over a year Monday and, despite a few sellers appearing late on, the FTSE 100 ended the session above 5,200. Insurers Old Mutual, Standard Life and Legal & General were in demand all day. Rising stock markets are always good news for their investment
Read moreLondon afternoon: Banks' balance sheet issues resurface
12th Oct 2009 14:23
The Footsie crashed through the 5200 barrier this morning to rise to a one-year high and although prices came off the top over the lunch-time session, the vast majority of blue-chips are still in the blue. The upward trend in global equity markets is good news for the insurers and their investment
Read moreLondon close: Stocks finish down
2nd Oct 2009 16:33
London's leading shares closed in the red but were off earlier lows as the US recovered somewhat after a poor start. A weaker than expected jobs report had pushed US stocks deep in the red, though by midday the markets had retraced some of the losses. Over here, there was good news for home owners
Read moreLondon afternoon: US jobs data sinks Footsie
2nd Oct 2009 14:05
Footsie has tumbled further below the 5,000 level after a disappointing read on the monthly US jobs numbers. US non-farm payrolls fell a worse than expected 263,000 in September, up from a downwardly revised 201,000 the month before, and compared with the 180,000 expected by economists. The unemp
Read moreLondon midday: Equities nervously lower
2nd Oct 2009 12:05
The Footsie dipped below the 5,000 level this morning as it followed Wall Street lower in the wake of patchy US economic data yesterday. Over here, there was good news for home owners as UK house prices rose for the fifth month in a row in September, according to the Nationwide Building Society. Th
Read moreBroker tips: Insurers, Misys, Domino's Pizza
1st Oct 2009 12:53
The life assurance sector has recovered strongly from its first quarter lows but there is still plenty of juice left in the major players, Panmure Gordon reckons. The broker has increased its target prices for five insurers: Prudential (to 732p from 585p), Standard Life (234p from 212p), St. James'
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Tough day for Footsie
1st Oct 2009 11:30
Blue chips had a tough day with the index turning down sharply after US initial dole claims figures came in worse than expected. Miners led the way lower on concerns that the US economy is not recovering as expected. Lonmin, Xstrata and Anglo American all fell sharply. Vedanta was the exception on
Read moreBroker snap: Insurance consolidation 'inevitable'
1st Oct 2009 11:16
The life assurance sector has recovered strongly from its first quarter lows but there is still plenty of juice left in the major players, Panmure Gordon reckons. The broker has increased its target prices for five insurers: Prudential (to 732p from 585p), Standard Life (234p from 212p), St. James'
Read moreLondon open: Healthy start to Q4
1st Oct 2009 08:40
London set off higher Thursday as buyers snapped up miners and Legal & General (L&G) continued to attract speculative interest. Persistent talk that Resolution is circling L&G had the insurer higher again in early deals, while yesterday's upgrade by Deutsche Bank helped. The broker also thinks Av
Read moreLondon close: Best ever quarterly gain for Footsie
30th Sep 2009 17:00
Wall Street fell out of bed at the start of its trading day after the release of disappointing business activity data and London quickly followed the US market downwards. However, a rally in the last half hour ensured that the FTSE 100 enjoyed its best ever quarterly percentage gain since the index
Read moreLondon afternoon: Footsie still lacking direction
30th Sep 2009 14:20
Footsie has continued its recent sluggish run, with company updates pulling the leading share index in both directions, but remains set for a record quarterly gain. Hedge fund manger Man is the best performer after a bullish trading update. "Investor sentiment is continuing to improve across the in
Read more