London close: Late rally trims losses
23rd Sep 2010 16:40
London staged a last hour rally but didn't rise by enough to eliminate losses sparked by a weak start on Wall Street. News that Brazilian oil company Petrobas will launch a world record $78bn rights issue helped other oil companies. BP, Shell and Cairn all picked up near the close. Expectation t
Read moreLondon afternoon: US shadow increases London gloom
23rd Sep 2010 14:24
Expectations of a weak start on Wall Street, after poor US jobless data, sent London lower still over the lunch time session, with banks and miners continuing to feature prominently among the blue-chip fallers. Lloyds and Standard Chartered are the worst performing banking stocks as worries resur
Read moreSector movers: Irish banks under the cosh
23rd Sep 2010 12:58
Irish banks are sharply lower today as economic worries continue to plague the former Celtic tiger. New figures today show the debt-stricken country's economy shrank by between 1% and 2% between April and June. Allied Irish Banks is down 8% and Bank of Ireland is 6% lower. British banks are also u
Read moreLondon midday: Blue-chips in the red
23rd Sep 2010 12:12
London's blue-chips are beating a rapid retreat but second liners are having a slightly better time of it, though most are still in arrears. Banks and miners are prominent among the blue-chip fallers. Lloyds and Standard Chartered are the worst performing banking stocks while HSBC is also lower a
Read moreLondon open: Banks behind weak start
22nd Sep 2010 08:51
Reports that the government is mulling a new bank windfall tax has unsettled share prices this morning. Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, will say in a speech today that bankers present more of a threat to Britain than trade unions, adding that the corporate world is "murky" and that the capita
Read moreTuesday newspaper round-up: HSBC, Lloyds, Cotton...
21st Sep 2010 06:32
HSBC is considering a controversial plan to base its next chairman in Hong Kong in a move that could mark a turning point in the international bank's relationship with Britain. HSBC is looking at whether it can hand the chairman's role to Michael Geoghegan, its chief executive, who relocated to Ho
Read moreLondon close: Second wind lifts Footsie higher
20th Sep 2010 16:40
A strong start on Wall Street ensured Footsie finished with good gains having started the day on a strong footing. US shares moved ahead including housebuilder and economic bellwether Lennar, which beat profit forecasts. Part-nationalised banking giant Lloyds Banking held up well after it was ann
Read moreLondon afternoon: Lloyds up as Daniels names exit date
20th Sep 2010 14:29
Stocks gave up a proportion of their gains over the lunch time session despite expectations of a firm start on Wall Street. Part-nationalised banking giant Lloyds Banking is holding up well after it was announced that chief executive Eric Daniels is to retire in a year's time. The move was not unex
Read moreLloyds boss Daniels to step down
20th Sep 2010 14:02
Eric Daniels, chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group is to retire in a year's time, the partly state-owned lender said. The announcement comes soon after the bank reported a return to profit following an extremely tumultuous period. Chairman Sir Win Bischoff will now lead a committee to find a suc
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: ENRC, Bank Commission, Vodafone...
19th Sep 2010 11:13
Sir Richard Sykes, former chairman of Glaxo Smith Kline, the drugs giant, faces the risk of being "blackballed" from the City in a growing row over a disputed African mining deal. Some of the Square Mile's biggest investors are furious with Sykes over his role as senior independent director of Eura
Read moreSector movers: Balfour and Kier construct gains
17th Sep 2010 15:12
On a mostly dull day for stocks, Balfour Beatty is giving the construction and materials sector a lift after a consortium including the contractor was named the preferred bidder for a £250m road scheme in Ireland. The road runs Gort and Tuam in the west of the Republic. Elsewhere in the sector, ho
Read moreWednesday paper round-up: BP, Lloyds Banking, Japan...
15th Sep 2010 06:32
BP was subject to an investigation in the North Sea which found new staff were not trained to "basic safety standards" - six months before its Gulf of Mexico accident. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) began its inquiry after a complaint by a worker on the Clair rig off the Shetlands, near to w
Read moreLondon midday: Busy going nowhere
14th Sep 2010 12:02
Footsie has been unable to make early gains stick and despite the strength of resource stocks is hovering close to its starting point for the day. Inflation data did little to boost sentiment, with the annual inflation rate remaining unchanged at 3.1% in August against expectations of a slight eas
Read moreLondon open: More gains for Footsie
14th Sep 2010 08:50
Footsie has defied predictions of a fall early on and has pushed on again. The index has been rising steadily now for nearly two weeks. Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland are two of the best performers as banks go well again in the wake of the new Basel III guidelines announced yesterday. Rio Tint
Read moreLondon close: Strong run continues
13th Sep 2010 16:42
Shares continued rising Monday as they reacted positively to new banking regulations and Chinese economic data. London is up for the fourth session in a row and trading higher for the eleventh day out of twelve, up at a new four-month high. Stocks haven't been this high since 30 April. Banks were
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