London close: Footsie flatlines
7th Jan 2010 16:46
A late afternoon rally fizzled out to leave London's blue chip index little changed on the day. Banks emerged from a sticky start as the day's best performers led by Barclays and Lloyds Bank, which both received decent write-ups in an otherwise cautious broker note from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. It
Read moreLondon afternoon: Banks defy broker gloom
7th Jan 2010 14:27
Leading shares are mixed, with the Footsie barely changed now miners have recovered from a weak showing in the morning session to show gains in the afternoon. Kazakhmys and Fresnillo lead the mining sector but their gains are surpassed by two stocks from the banking sector where Barclays and Lloyds
Read moreSector movers: Sainsbury's update lifts food retail
7th Jan 2010 12:58
Sainsbury's is helping lift the food retail sector higher after saying today a record Christmas performance completed a strong third quarter in which like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rose by 3.7%. Like-for-like sales, including fuel, rose by 3.8% in the 13 weeks to 2 January, while like-for-lik
Read moreLondon midday: Bank sits on hands
7th Jan 2010 11:51
London drifted lower ahead of the announcement of the Bank of England's quantitative easing and interest rate decision, which, as expected, left both the level of interest rates and the scale of the quanititative easing programme unchanged. Mining stocks are proving to be a millstone round Footsie'
Read moreLondon open: Miners offset strong supermarkets
7th Jan 2010 08:14
Miners are leading London's top stocks lower in early dealings on Thursday, offsetting strong demand in supermarket groups. Eurasian Natural Resources, Kazakhmys, Randgold Resources, Antofagasta, Xstrata and BHP Billiton are among the worst performers. On the positive side, Sainsbury, Tesco and Mo
Read moreTuesday tips round-up: Wm Morrison, VT Group, RM
24th Nov 2009 06:38
Wm Morrison shares have hit the skids in recent days as investors grapple with what to do about the curveball thrown at the group by the departure of chief executive Marc Bolland for M&S. Given the uncertainty, Morrison is a speculative buy, not least because the shares will be choppy as speculatio
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: ITV, Water companies, Lloyds Banking
22nd Nov 2009 10:45
New ITV chairman Archie Norman is expected to charge millions of viewers to watch all but the broadcaster's main channel, the Mail on Sunday reports. The ending of ITV's days as a free-to-air broadcaster is likely to happen soon after the former Asda boss joins as non-executive chairman in January
Read moreLondon close: Footsie ends weakly
19th Nov 2009 16:46
Footsie turned sharply lower at the close after a very poor start on Wall Street with the Dow down by more than 150 points in the first few hours. Miners bore the brunt of the selling with Antofagasta, Anglo American, Xstrata, Randgold Resources, Rio Tinto and Vedanta all lower. Platinum refiner J
Read moreLondon afternoon: Footsie stuck in the red
19th Nov 2009 14:06
Footsie is bumbling along close to its low for the day ahead of what is expected to be a weak start on Wall Street. Futures point to falls of anything between 50-70 points for the Dow when US trading starts, with weak metal prices likely to be a key theme. Here, lower metals have already hit the
Read moreLondon noon: Miners drag Footsie down
19th Nov 2009 12:00
Barely a fifth of the FTSE 100 constituents are in positive territory, but the fall on the blue-chip index is still modest, given the weakness of miners. With metals prices softening, the likes of Antofagasta, Anglo American, Xstrata, Randgold Resources, Rio Tinto and Vedanta are on the slide, as i
Read moreLondon open: Miners lead Footsie lower
19th Nov 2009 08:19
Miners are leading London's top stocks lower in early dealings on Thursday, while investors also have a stream of company updates to consider. Nine out of the ten worst performers are miners. Fresnillo, Xstrata, Antofagasta, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Vedanta Resources, Eurasian Natural Resources,
Read moreLondon pre-open: Slight rise expected
19th Nov 2009 07:35
Footsie is expected to post modest gains in early dealings as the stream of company updates continues. Supermarket chain Morrisons reported a 4.3% rise in like-for-like sales and left its expectations for the current year unchanged. Market expectations were for underlying sales growth, excluding fu
Read moreMorrisons sales growth slows
19th Nov 2009 07:02
Supermarket chain Morrisons reported a 4.3% rise in third quarter like-for-like sales and left its expectations for the current year unchanged. Market expectations were for underlying sales growth, excluding fuel and VAT, to have risen by 4.5% in the period, compared to a 7.8% year on year rise in
Read moreLondon close: Flat finish for FTSE 100
18th Nov 2009 16:33
There was no shortage of market moving news today, but with stocks moving in both directions, Footsie finished little changed. It was day for high profile board room appointments, with the share prices of Marks & Spencer and ITV both responding well to an end to uncertainty over leadership issues.
Read moreThursday preview: Morrisons, SABMiller, Halfords, National Grid
18th Nov 2009 16:33
The timing of the interim management statement from supermarket chain Morrisons is intriguing, given that it comes one day after the news that its chief executive is to jump ship to take up a similar role at Marks & Spencer. In common with the other supermarkets, Morrisons is expected to report tha
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