Wednesday broker round-up - UPDATE
3rd Oct 2012 09:06
African Barrick Gold: Westhouse Secuirites raises target from 464p to 495p. AG Barr: Panmure Gordon keeps hold rating and 440p target. AstraZeneca: Panmure Gordon downgrades from buy to hold, target cut from 3,100p to 3,000p. Barclays: UBS downgrades from buy to neutral, 235p target unchanged. B
Read moreLondon open: Sentiment dampened by Spain, Chinese data
3rd Oct 2012 08:27
- Rajoy denies Spanish bailout request - Chinese data disappoints - Tesco and Sainsbury's fall after updates - FirstGroup sinks after West Coast failure Stocks in the UK slipped in early trading on Wednesday as concerns about a Spanish bailout and weak economic data from China spooked investors. S
Read moreLondon pre-open: FTSE to open lower on Europe worries
3rd Oct 2012 07:31
City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open down 18 points from yesterday's close of 5,809, as attention once again focuses on the situation in Europe, particularly Spain, where on Tuesday Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, dismissed talk that his country would be requesting a bailout in the nea
Read moreSainsbury's posts strong second quarter
3rd Oct 2012 07:03
Supermarket giant Sainsbury's said it had outperformed the market in the second quarter, helped by strong sales of own label products and clothing. Total sales for second quarter were up 4.4% excluding fuel, while like-for-like sales were up 1.9%. Total sales for the first half were up 4.1% exclud
Read moreWednesday preview: Retailers slug it out
2nd Oct 2012 12:23
Half-year results from retail giant Tesco are probably the main event of the week on the corporate agenda, but in Panmure Gordon's view, the figures won't mean much in the grand scheme of things. "We don't regard the actual numbers as being that interesting. What we are looking for is progress in t
Read moreLondon close: Stocks surge after US data, Spanish stress tests
1st Oct 2012 16:45
- US data beats forecasts in September - Reports imply Germany may soften stance on Greece - Banks and miners rise strongly in London - Credit Suisse says Spanish stress test a "generally credible exercise" - Credit Suisse says larger top-down questions remain in stress tests Better-than-forecast m
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Xstrata rises after agreeing to merger with Glencore
1st Oct 2012 14:46
The big news of the day was that the so-called merger of equals between commodities trader Glencore and mining titan Xstrata is back on after the independent directors of the latter agreed to Glencore's terms. Jefferies reiterated its positive stance on both stocks this morning, saying that while th
Read moreLondon midday: Strong start to Q4; Footsie up one per cent
1st Oct 2012 11:24
- Investors taking advantage of underpriced stocks, says analyst - Asian and UK data disappoints - Xstrata rises after agreeing terms with Glencore London's blue-chip index gained strongly in morning trading on Monday with increased risk appetite benefitting the banking and mining sectors as stocks
Read moreWeek Ahead: Sainsbury and Tesco go head-to-head
28th Sep 2012 09:54
There is a retail theme to next week's results, with supermarket giants Tesco and Sainsbury set to report, along with car products provider Halfords, homewares retailer Dunelm and fashion chain Ted Baker. On the economic front, central banks will be in focus with the European Central Bank making it
Read moreLondon close: Losses pared but miners are hit hard
20th Sep 2012 16:31
Losses were pared in the final 90 minutes of trading in London on a day when investors fretted about a slow-down in the global economy. Disappointing Chinese manufacturing data was released overnight, and the news was not good. China´s manufacturing sector Purchasing Manufacturers' Index (PMI) for
Read moreLondon midday: Global slow-down fears mash miners
20th Sep 2012 11:58
Miners remain under a cloud after disappointing Chinese manufacturing data was released overnight, but there was some cheer on the home front, as retail sales fell by less than feared in August. UK retail sales fell by 0.2% in August, slightly less than the 0.3% fall expected by economists. In year
Read moreFriday newspaper round-up: Fed, BAE, Recovery
14th Sep 2012 06:55
America's central bank said it will purchase 40bn dollars (25bn pounds) of mortgage-backed bonds a month to stimulate the housing market and keep long-term interest rates low. In a major departure from the two previous rounds of stimulus, the Fed said it will persist with the policy until the outloo
Read moreBroker snap: Nomura downgrades Morrisons on volume growth
3rd Sep 2012 11:02
Nomura has downgraded its rating for supermarket group Morrisons after analysing the recent Kantar grocery survey. The broker said that it has drawn two key conclusions from the survey: "(1) We think Tesco's reset is beginning to work with progressively improving volume data over the past six month
Read moreMonday broker round-up
3rd Sep 2012 09:14
APR Energy: UBS raises target from 590p to 600p, sell rating unchanged. ARM Holdings: Deutsche Bank downgrades to sell, target cut from 465p to 400p. Burberry: Nomura keeps buy rating and 1,450p target. Cairn Energy: BarCap cuts target from 445p to 350p, equal weight rating kept. Computacenter:
Read moreAsda expands personal finance business
10th Jul 2012 10:59
Asda, the supermarket chain owned by Walmart, has unveiled plans to re-brand and expand its personal finance arm, conveniently taking advantage of widespread disatisfaction with banks following the recent LIBOR scandal and system failure at Natwest. Asda Money will now sell a number of finan
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