FTSE 100 movers: Miners spooked by China
11th Mar 2010 15:56
Miners dominate the fallers on the Footsie today as they are hit by fears that the Chinese government may try to hold back growth in the Chinese economy. Kazakhmys and Fresnillo are the biggest fallers. Wound care company Smith & Nephew lost a US patent infringement case brought by Kinetic Concept
Read moreLondon afternoon: Footsie holds above 5,600
11th Mar 2010 14:32
A steady decline continued through lunch, but London bounced off 5,600 despite a weak start on Wall Street as mining sector losses narrowed very slightly. Falling commodity prices have damaged miners Thursday. Investors decided to take profits in Fresnillo, Randgold, Rio Tinto, ENRC, Kazakhmys, BHP
Read moreSector movers: Retailers on the rise
11th Mar 2010 13:11
Home Retail Group is among the stocks lifting the retail sector. The Argos and Homebase operator said benchmark profit before tax for the year will be around £290m, slightly ahead of current market expectations. In the 8 weeks to 27 February, total sales at Argos declined by 6.6% to £537m. Total
Read moreLondon midday: Thos. Cook a ray of sunshine
11th Mar 2010 12:08
The Footsie has drifted into the red, weighed down by the weakness of mining stocks. Among the miners Fresnillo, Randgold Resources, Rio Tinto, ENRC, Kazakhmys, BHP Billiton and Xstrata are all on offer, as metals prices retreat. Smith & Nephew is under the weather after coming out on the wrong
Read moreBroker snap: Brokers play down Smith & Nephew patent impact
11th Mar 2010 11:33
Smith & Nephew's loss of a patent law suit with US firm KCI over its foam implants is a setback but unlikely to have any significant impact on earnings, brokers Morgan Stanley, Charles Stanley and Panmure Gordon all suggest. The patents at issue involve foam dressing used with vacuum-pressure syste
Read moreLondon close: Blue chips at 15-month high
29th Dec 2009 16:48
London's blue chip index closed at a new 15-month high having regained all of the ground lost after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Footsie was last this high on 12 September 2008 when it stood at 5,416. The following day Lehman Brothers went bust. London is now the seventh stock market to regain
Read moreLondon midday: FTSE 100 at 15-month high
29th Dec 2009 12:21
London's blue chip index is now back above the levels before the collapse of Lehman Brothers with demand for miners again sparking the rise. Footsie was last this high on 12 September 2008 when it stood at 5,416. The following day Lehman Brothers went bust. London is now the seventh stock market to
Read moreLondon open: Good start for Footsie
29th Dec 2009 08:46
London's top stocks have made a decent start to the week after the extended weekend break, with miners among the top performers. There were good showings elsewhere, with the Nikkei index in Japan hitting a four-month high overnight and the German DAX closing above the 6,000 mark for the first time
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 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 moreGFS directors secure gains
11th Nov 2009 16:01
Nick Buckles and Trevor Dighton, the chief executive and finance director respectively of security group G4S, have both doubled their money through share sales. Buckles and Dighton took up shares via options at varying exercise prices. Buckles spent nearly £1.1m on additional shares and immediatel
Read moreLondon close: Shares shake off US blues
6th Nov 2009 17:15
The Footsie finished a see-saw day in positive territory, shrugging off concerns about the worse than expected US jobless figures, which revealed the US unemployment rate has risen above the 10% level. Banks enjoyed a day in the sun, helped by a positive response to results from Royal Bank of Scotl
Read moreLondon afternoon: Stocks slide on US jobless news
6th Nov 2009 14:04
Leading shares are retreating rapidly in the wake of worse than expected US non-farm payrolls data. October non-farm payrolls data showed the US unemployment rate rose to 10.2% from 9.8% in September. The number of jobs lost in October was 190,000, versus expectations of 175,000 job losses. So fa
Read moreLondon midday: Financials lead advance
6th Nov 2009 12:04
Banks and property stocks are leading the market higher, though the advance is being conducted at a leisurely pace. More huge write-offs sent Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) deep into loss over the past three months. Nine-month losses now total £2.06bn against a profit £1.8bn this time last year. Des
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