London midday: Oil fired Footsie
21st Dec 2009 12:00
Oil is fuelling the Footsie's rise today, with support from back-in-favour banks. Cairn Energy has secured a drill ship to get an early start on its exploration activities in Greenland. The oil company said drilling in Greenland will start a year ahead of schedule after it came to a deal with Hess
Read moreLondon open: Blue chips move higher
21st Dec 2009 08:46
Footsie has moved higher following a positive finish for US shares on Friday. Second line oil groups Cairn and Tullow Oil are the best performers following the spike in the crude price on Friday on renewed tension between Iran and Iraq. Banks have also rallied a little after heavy falls last week
Read moreLondon close: Late decline wipes out gains
18th Dec 2009 16:43
Footsie ended lower having spent most of the day in positive territory. Financials led the market down and cruise operator Carnival's lower quarterly profit did not help. Most of the miners ended the day higher but they lost some of their earlier gains. Having been hit hard yesterday following the
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Miners decouple from dollar
18th Dec 2009 14:47
Kazakhmys, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Vedanta and Xstrata are the best of a generally buoyant mining sector, which had been weak recently as the dollar has rallied against the euro. The best performing blue-chip is knee and hip joint supplier Smith & Nephew after UBS bumped up its price target for
Read moreExecution snaps up Noble
18th Dec 2009 14:35
Execution, the stockbroker, has bought mid-sized investment bank Noble Group in to create a "new force" in international investment banking. Noble will add a corporate finance arm to Execution's existing research, sales and trading operations to form a stand-alone investment bank. Nick Finegold, fo
Read moreLondon afternoon: Stocks in consolidation mode
18th Dec 2009 14:21
Blue-chips moved sideways over the lunch-time session, consolidating the morning's gains. Goldman Sachs has given a lift to the oil sector, tipping BP as the 'clear winner' among oil companies next year, though it also rates UK operators BG and Royal Dutch Shell over their continental European coun
Read moreLondon midday: Stocks amble higher
18th Dec 2009 12:10
Leading shares are mixed with a slightly firmer bias, helped by the strength of resource stocks. Gold miner Randgold Resources leads the mining sector higher as the gold price stabilises after falling heavily overnight. Elsewhere in the sector BHP Billiton, Kazakhmys and Antofagasta catch the eye.
Read moreLondon open: Footsie shrugs off bank weakness
18th Dec 2009 08:45
London's blue chips have opened higher despite another weak showing from the banks after harsher than expected recommendations from the Basel Committee yesterday. Shares in all four fell heavily yesterday on the news and Barclays, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered are all lower
Read moreBanks shares suffer on more curbs threat
18th Dec 2009 08:19
Shares in banks came under pressure for a second day as investors mulled the prospect of lower future profits and dividends after the latest recommendations from the Basel Committee of central bankers. Lloyds, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland all fell again as the committee, seen as a overseeing
Read moreLondon close: Banks spooked by higher capital call
17th Dec 2009 16:34
Banks sank on a call for tougher capital requirements and coupled with a weak mining sector it meant a poor day in London. Lloyds Banking took a pasting, while Standard Chartered and Barclays were also among the worst performers. The Basel Committee of central bankers and supervisors called for st
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Banks lead market lower
17th Dec 2009 15:48
Banks fell after the US Federal Reserve pointed out that it will end its special liquidity measures early next year. Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays are the biggest fallers. Mining companies were also much lower because the strength of the dollar has hit commodity prices. Xstrata and Antofagasta
Read moreLondon afternoon: Barclays hit by lawsuit
17th Dec 2009 13:55
Footsie remains deep in negative territory, and with US markets set to open lower, there is no prospect of a boost from Wall Street. Banks and miners are responsible for much of the blue-chip index's fall. Lloyds Banking is leading the fallers, while Standard Chartered and Barclays are also among t
Read moreLondon midday: Shares slip as banks and miners slide
17th Dec 2009 12:09
Falls across the board for the heavyweight bank and mining sectors are keeping Footsie firmly in the red. Lloyds Banking is leading the blue chip fallers, while Standard Chartered and Barclays are also among the worst performers. Among the miners, Antofagasta, Eurasian Natural Resources and Xstrat
Read moreLondon open: Banks and miners lead fall
17th Dec 2009 08:49
Weak miners and banking shares are leading London's top stocks lower in early dealings on Thursday. UK shares were expected to start the session in the red after Wall Street fell following the latest Federal Reserve rate decision and stimulus update. The central bank said interest rates would stay
Read moreUK close: FTSE 100 closes higher
16th Dec 2009 16:43
Footsie ended with gains as better than expected UK unemployment figures lifted sentiment. The number of people claiming unemployment benefit fell for the first time since February 2008 in November amid further signs the UK economy is beginning to recover from the economic downturn. The claimant
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