London midday: Footsie drops 1.4% as retreat from record high continues
26th Mar 2015 12:15
London's Footsie was registering steep losses on Thursday as the index continued to retreat from the record highs reached earlier in the week, as financial and airline stocks fell sharply. Airline stocks in particular were feeling the brunt of a spike in the price of oil after Saudi Arabia launched
Read moreLondon open: LSE and Easyjet lead stocks lower, oil prices spike
26th Mar 2015 08:55
UK stocks dropped sharply on Thursday morning following a steep sell-off on Wall Street, with financial and airline shares providing a drag. The FTSE 100 was down 1% at 6,919.49 early on as it continues to pull back from the fresh all-time closing high of 7,037.67 reached on Monday. The London Stoc
Read moreUK government raises £500m by further cutting its stake in Lloyds Bank
26th Mar 2015 08:07
The British government on Thursday reduced its stake in Lloyds Banking Group ahead of the upcoming UK elections in May. The UK government sold about £569m of shares in Lloyds, the nation's largest mortgage lender before elections in May. The government's stake is now down to 21.9% from 22.98% and i
Read moreLondon open: FTSE 100 inches up on growing optimism over Greek deal
20th Mar 2015 09:11
London's leading FTSE 100 benchmark index posted mild gains on Friday amid renewed optimism from talks between Greece's new government and EU creditors in Brussels. The Greek government is now expected to present its reforms in the next days after wrangling with EU leaders who will then decide on th
Read moreBroker tips: Whitbread, Diageo, Lloyds, Asos
13th Mar 2015 12:20
Shares in Premier Inn and Costa owner Whitbread received a boost on Friday from UBS which upgraded its rating on the stock from 'sell' to 'neutral'. The bank hiked its target price on the shares from 4,700p to 5,400p, but said: "The valuation is certainly not cheap." Spirits group Diageo was shot d
Read moreFriday tips round-up: TSB, Fenner
13th Mar 2015 10:54
Lloyds was quick to show its approval of Spanish lender Banco Sabadell's bid for TSB and rightly so. The 360p a share offer which has been put on the table represents a small premium to the UK bank's book value. Indeed, the nearly one- third jump in the shares on the back of the announcement shows i
Read moreLondon midday: Commodity rebound boosts markets, TSB surges on M&A
12th Mar 2015 11:59
Strong gains from mining and oil stocks and M&A activity in the banking sector gave UK markets a big lift on Thursday morning, with the FTSE 100 trading nearly 1% higher by lunchtime. Resource shares were on the rise as commodity prices rebounded after recent falls, while positive Chinese bank lendi
Read moreTSB confirms takeover bid from Spain's Banco Sabadell, Lloyds gives approval
12th Mar 2015 09:18
Recently floated TSB has received a cash takeover approach from Spain's Banco Sabadell, which TSB's majority owner Lloyds said it would accept. A preliminary bid at 340p per share has been tabled, the lender confirmed, 80p higher than its price at flotation last June. Within minutes, shares in TSB,
Read moreLloyds sells iconic Halifax House Price Index to Markit
10th Mar 2015 09:45
The UK's Lloyds Banking Group is selling one of the country's most popular property price trackers, the Halifax House Price Index to global financial data provider Markit. Lloyds acquired the tracker when it was forced to buy out HBoS after the UK's banking crisis. The index has been published month
Read moreMorgan Stanley expects UK bank capital ratios to rise further to meet regulatory standards
9th Mar 2015 17:41
US heavyweight banking titan Morgan Stanley took note of the rising capital demands for UK banks in its latest note to clients and now expects that over 13% of Common Tier Equity 1 (CTE1) ratios to become the new baseline for the sector. "We see more evidence that the seemingly relentless march upwa
Read moreLondon close: Greek concerns send UK stocks to three-week low
9th Mar 2015 17:01
UK stocks fell on Monday, dropping to their lowest in three weeks, as renewed concerns about Greece weighed on sentiment. London's FTSE 100 finished down 0.51% at 6,876.47 by the end of trading on the back of losses in the real estate and construction sectors. The index has not closed below this lev
Read moreBoE says size of investment banks leaves them vulnerable to risks
9th Mar 2015 16:53
With trading assets of 10 of the largest investment banks in the UK summing to more than £5trn, the sheer scale of these operations means that liquidity in financial markets can be vulnerable to the failure of a single firm. That was the message of the Bank of England's (BoE) latest quarterly bullet
Read moreMonday broker round-up
9th Mar 2015 11:29
Barclays: Charles Stanley reiterates accumulate. Nomura stays at buy, ups target to 81p from 78p. Lloyds: Investec reiterates buy and 85p target price. RSA: Credit Suisse reiterates outperform recommendation and hikes target to 525p from 475p. Goldman downgrades to sell from neutral. ARM Holdings:
Read moreLloyds looking to dispose of Irish CRE portfolio
9th Mar 2015 11:13
Lloyds Banking Group is looking to dispose of its entire residual Irish CRE portfolio, according to reports in Ireland. "As of the end of 2014, the gross exposure on the portfolio was £1.8bn against £1.4bn provisions, meaning any price in excess of 23p in the pound should trigger further provision w
Read moreGovernment brings stake in Lloyds under 23%
9th Mar 2015 08:34
The British government has sold £500m worth of shares in Lloyds Banking Group, bringing its stake in the bank down from 40% to 22.8%. The sale brings the amount of money raised through HM Treasury's trading plan in the lender to over £1bn. The Treasury said that the scheme, introduced in December,
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