Thursday preview: RBS, BATS, Capita
24th Feb 2010 16:23
It seems like the London stock market has been treading water all week waiting for results from the part-nationalised banks Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking. RBS is first out of the traps on Thursday and although investment analysts' opinions vary wildly on the likely scale of the c
Read moreLondon afternoon: Stocks steady at higher levels
24th Feb 2010 14:12
London has moved into consolidation mode in the afternoon session, ahead of a moderately firmer opening on Wall Street. HSBC remains the top performer as reports circulate that the company is preparing to sell its train leasing business for around £2bn. Sentiment towards the bank is also sweetened
Read moreLondon midday: HSBC rolls higher on train sale rumours
24th Feb 2010 12:04
Banks are leading the market's advance today, more than offsetting weakness among miners. HSBC was the morning's top performer as reports circulate that the company is preparing to sell its train leasing business for around £2bn. Sentiment towards the bank is also sweetened by reports that the boar
Read moreNorthern Rock loses 100% savings guarantee
24th Feb 2010 10:17
Northern Rock has confirmed that it will lose the government's guarantee that protects 100% of customers' savings on their deposits in three months' time. The Newcastle-based lender said removal of the guarantee, which was broadly anticipated, will take place on 24 May. Savers will continue to be
Read moreSector movers: Banks move higher
24th Feb 2010 10:14
Investors are bracing for results from banks RBS and Lloyds tomorrow and the following day respectively. Both stocks are higher, but the gains are modest. HSBC leads the sector higher amid reports the bank is expected to announce that its chief executive Michael Geoghegan not receive his 40% pay r
Read moreHSBC to scrap pay rise for CEO
24th Feb 2010 09:30
HSBC, Britain's biggest bank, is expected to scrap a pay rise of almost 40% for its chief executive Michael Geoghegan following shareholder protests. The board will make a final decision on Friday, before HSBC publishes 2009 results on Monday, according to press reports. It is understood that the
Read moreLloyds Banking boss gives up bonus
22nd Feb 2010 16:52
Eric Daniels, chief executive officer of loss-making lender Lloyds Banking Group, has bowed to public pressure and waived his right to a bonus this year. Daniels, who was instrumental in driving through the disastrous merger with HBOS which saw the traditionally conservative Lloyds become contamina
Read moreLondon close: Footsie slips back
22nd Feb 2010 16:36
Footsie struggled to find any sense of direction on a quiet day's trading, closing slightly in the red. Bunzl showed a healthy rise as the market was encouraged by a strong second half for the group that saw margins improve. Foreign exchange tailwinds enabled the outsourcing and distribution group
Read moreLondon afternoon: RBS heads the field
22nd Feb 2010 14:45
The lunch-time session was a positive one for blue-chip equities despite Wall Street opening modestly lower, with banks and miners leading the advance. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has usurped Bunzl as the best performer of the day. The part-nationalised lender, like its counterpart Lloyds Banking,
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Avandia concern knocks GlaxoSmithKline
22nd Feb 2010 12:28
GlaxoSmithKline took its second hit in the space of a few days as a US Senate committee suggested its diabetes medicine Avandia may increase the risk of a heart attack. Brokers reckon the main risk to the company is from possible litigation as the report claims that Glaxo knew of possible heart at
Read moreLondon afternoon: Footsie falls as miners switch sides
3rd Feb 2010 14:32
Mining stocks headed south over the lunch time session, taking the blue-chip index with them. Antofagasta is the worst performer in the mining sector. The copper miner produced 442,500 tonnes of the red metal in 2009, ahead of its original forecast of 433,000 tonnes but lower than the 477,700 tonne
Read moreLondon midday: Merrills takes a shine to banks
3rd Feb 2010 12:08
Footsie ended the morning at an intra-day high, driven by a strong performance from financial stocks and miners. Standard Life is the top riser after it announced a 'significant increase' in flows and sales in the fourth quarter. Life and pensions net inflows more than tripled to £1.3bn from £0.4bn
Read moreTuesday newspaper round-up: Royal Bank of Scotland, Ryanair, Marks & Spencer
2nd Feb 2010 06:34
Bosses at the Royal Bank of Scotland have decided to press ahead with plans that allow top performers to effectively collect large cash bonuses despite a political and public backlash about bank pay. RBS wrote to investors yesterday detailing the bank's complicated pay deal under which bankers will
Read moreLSE launches retail bond market
1st Feb 2010 17:18
Some 33 years after the Jim Callaghan-led Labour government became an unlikely midwife to the concept of a 'share owning democracy' with its privatisation of a chunk of the government's stake in BP, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is hoping to convert a proportion of the British public to the appeal
Read moreLondon close: Water groups lift Footsie
1st Feb 2010 16:43
Bid speculation helped Footsie to a good start to the week, with water groups in focus. Northumbrian Water spurted higher on reports a Canadian pension fund is poised to bid. Sector peers United Utilities, Pennon Water and Severn Trent rise in sympathy. JP Morgan, which was named two weeks ago as
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