London midday: Footsie laid low by Unicredit, rumours of French downgrade?
21st Dec 2011 11:39
The banks were providing a lift at midday, but the Footsie was registering only slight gains with only a few days before Christmas. Hopes of a 'Santa rally' seem to have been dampened towards midday by the suspension from trading of shares of Unicredit 'limit-down'. They have since resumed trading
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Aggreko extends gains, pharmas fall
20th Dec 2011 15:29
Temporary power supplier Aggreko was leading the gains on the FTSE 100 on Tuesday, as investors continue to celebrate yesterday's news that full-year profits should come in slightly ahead of previous guidance. Media stocks were also on the rise with advertising giant WPP among the best performers i
Read moreLondon midday: Banks and pharmas drag Footsie lower
20th Dec 2011 11:54
London's blue chip index was slightly down at midday, despite a temporary stint in the blue, with heavyweight banking and pharmaceuticals stocks providing a drag. The Footsie nevertheless has been trading within a narrow range, with just 33 points separating the intraday low and high. The European
Read moreLondon close: Banks tumble as Osborne speaks
19th Dec 2011 16:19
The Footsie tanked in late afternoon trade with the government's response to Sir John Vickers banking report weighing heavily on the banking sector. In a debate in the House of Commons, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said that lenders should be forced to ring-fence their high street len
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Banks weighed down by ICB report
19th Dec 2011 14:21
The banks were among the worst performers of the day on Monday as they awaited a the government's response to proposed changes to the sector by the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB). The ICB has recommended that lenders should be forced to ring-fence their High Street lending operations from
Read moreLondon midday: Banks fall, Footsie flat
19th Dec 2011 11:50
The Footsie pared gains and was trading flat by midday with banking stocks providing a drag ahead of the government's response to Sir John Vickers' report into banking. The Bank of England's Quarterly Bulletin revealed that 56% of households surveyed reckoned that income available after tax, insura
Read moreMonday newspaper round-up: Eurogroup, South Korea, Lloyds
19th Dec 2011 06:54
Jean Claude Juncker, the head of the Eurogroup, said all 27 European Union finance ministers, including George Osborne, would talk together in the afternoon to approve or reject extending the funds to the IMF as agreed in Brussels by December 19. The loans would be used by the IMF to support struggl
Read moreFTSE 100 Movers: Kazakhmys leads the miners higher
16th Dec 2011 14:14
Kazakhmys leapt into the top spot after investors learnt that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the China Development Bank Corporation for a $1.5bn loan facility, which is to be used for the development of the major copper project at Aktogay, East Kazakhstan. The facility consists of
Read moreLloyds boss wakes up and buys 0.6m shares
15th Dec 2011 15:45
Announcing his return to work just six short weeks since taking leave on medical advice, Lloyds boss Antonio Horta-Osorio celebrated his recovery with the purchase of $226,962-worth of shares in the part-nationalised lender. The director, who was signed off sick with extreme fatigue and sleep depr
Read moreLloyds' boss to return to daily grind on January 9th
14th Dec 2011 14:12
Shares in part-nationalised lender Lloyds Banking Group rallied on Wednesday afternoon after it was announced that Group Chief Executive António Horta-Osório has been given a clean bill of health to return to his post. A statement from the bank said he will return to the bank as Group Chief Executi
Read moreLondon close: Footsie drops 1.8% on Eurozone worries
12th Dec 2011 16:46
London's Footsie finished at its lowest levels of the day after Wall Street bourses opened sharply in the red. The Eurozone crisis appeared to be weighing heavily on investors' minds (as usual) following some downbeat comments from Moody's. The FTSE 100 finished 1.8% down at 5,428, some 101 points o
Read moreFTSE 100 Movers: Miners drag footsie lower
12th Dec 2011 15:07
Kazakhstan-focused miner, Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC), hit the bottom spot on reports that it is said to be examining allegations of corruption at a Kazakh iron ore subsidiary - although denied on Sunday that it was the subject of a formal investigation by Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO),
Read moreLondon midday: Stocks continue to fall, banks tumble
12th Dec 2011 11:49
The Footsie was trading just below the 5,500 level at midday, with banks and miners providing a drag on London's blue chip index. It seems that markets across Europe have given a lukewarm reaction to the 'fiscal compact' agreed by (some) EU leaders late last week, with indices in Paris, Frankfurt an
Read moreLondon close: Banks provide a boost after summit
9th Dec 2011 16:45
The EU summit has of course dominated markets today and investors have taken the news reasonably well, with benchmark indices across Europe finishing between 2-3% higher after Eurozone nations (and some others) reached an agreement on enhancing fiscal discipline and strengthening economic policy coo
Read moreFTSE 100 Movers: Banks and miners head north
9th Dec 2011 14:44
The banks - Lloyds, RBS and Barclays - took the top spots, rising around 3% each, as markets digest last night's developments from the EU summit. Mining peers Fresnillo, ENRC, Kazakhmys, Xstrata and Antofagasta were also making gains. EU leaders have failed in a bid to make changes to the treatie
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