London close: Shares fall back amid global worries
10th Nov 2010 16:34
Footsie was posting substantial losses by trading's close as losses in the mining sector cancelled out any optimism engendered by company updates. As usual, it was global economic concerns that weighed on the mining sector. US stocks are under pressure amid worries over China's efforts to curb infl
Read moreLondon afternoon: BAE takes off
10th Nov 2010 15:10
Mining stocks are dragging London lower as copper and precious metal prices come off the boil. Kazakhmys, Lonmin and ENRC are the worst performers while precious metals miners Randgold and Fresnillo fare little better. BAE Systems is the best performing blue-chip after holding an investor day ye
Read moreSector movers: Elecricity surges after SSE update
10th Nov 2010 14:36
The electricity sector has been given a jump start by a bullish update from Scottish and Southern Energy. "SSE's key financial objective is dividend growth, and we are on course to meet our target of a 2% real increase for the full year 2010/11, while maintaining a dividend cover in line with our
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Profit-taking in miners
10th Nov 2010 13:59
Miners are on the slide and dragging down Footsie. Gold and silver reached new highs yesterday and eight of the worst ten performers are miners as investors take profits. Kazakhmys and Randgold are the biggest fallers but Anglo American is bucking the trend. Tullow Oil's interim management state
Read moreLondon midday: Footsie slips back as miners give up gains
10th Nov 2010 12:03
Company updates have been given a mixed reception, but a retreat in the mining sector has Footsie in the red. Miners are weak after as profit takers cover some of their gains after the new highs for gold and silver yesterday. Gold miner Randgold and platinum group Lonmin are the worst performers.
Read moreLondon open: Slow start after mixed results
10th Nov 2010 08:54
London has made a slow start with miners running into profit taking after their good run and a mixed response to the latest slug of trading updates. Sainsbury's made enough money to keep analysts happy during the first half though and sales were pretty much as expected given the supermarket giant u
Read moreSSE on course for full year divi of at least 74.5p
10th Nov 2010 07:24
Fears that the dividend of utility Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) might be under threat look premature, as the company bumped up its interim dividend by 6.7%. The company hiked its interim dividend from 21.0p last year to 22.4p this time round, and said it is on course for a full year dividend of
Read moreWednesday preview: Sainsbury, SSE, Aveva, BoE inflation report
9th Nov 2010 16:19
It's just over a month since supermarket firm J. Sainsbury updated the market, so Wednesday's interim numbers should not contain too many surprises. The company said last month that total sales for the 16 weeks to 2 October jumped 6.6% (5.2% without fuel) and were up 7% for the six months (4.8% ex
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Strong growth for Inmarsat
8th Nov 2010 14:30
Satellite operator Inmarsat achieved strong growth in its aeronautical and leasing services in the third quarter. Total revenue in the three months ended 30 September rose 19% to $308.8m from $260m the year before. Pay TV and internet service provider BSkyB has reached its target of 10m TV custome
Read moreBroker tips: SSE, Lancashire, China Meditech
8th Nov 2010 13:40
Nomura has downgraded its stance of power and water utility Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) to 'reduce' due to a risk of lower earnings and a possible threat to the dividend. The broker has cut its SSE earnings forecast for 2012 and 2013 by 7% and 11% respectively because of a weaker power price
Read moreBroker snap: Divi under threat at SSE
8th Nov 2010 13:08
Nomura has downgraded its stance of power and water utility Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) to 'reduce' due to a risk of lower earnings and a possible threat to the dividend. The broker has cut its SSE earnings forecast for 2012 and 2013 by 7% and 11% respectively because of a weaker power price
Read moreLondon close: Footsie takes small step back
29th Oct 2010 17:24
The movements of the FTSE 100 index appeared to be directed by a lackadaisical Grand Old Duke of York today, and the blue-chip index finished (more or less) neither up nor down. British Airways was lower even though it swung to a profit in the first half as the airline improved yields and cut costs
Read moreLondon afternoon: Footsie returns to blue
29th Oct 2010 15:15
London has finally pulled itself back into the blue helped by a solid start on Wall Street after GDP numbers disappointed slightly. Over here, GfK NOP's consumer confidence index improved to -19 in October, confounding economists' expectations of a slide to -22 or even lower. The survey was taken b
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Profit swing not enough to prevent BA fall
29th Oct 2010 14:01
British Airways is the biggest faller even though it swung back into profit in the six months to September 2010. The airline improved yields and cut costs. It made a pre-tax profit of £158m compared to a loss of £292m in the same period last year. Revenue jumped 8% to £4.45bn. Xstrata is the sect
Read moreSSE ups gas prices by 9%
29th Oct 2010 12:39
Scottish and Southern Energy has put its gas tariffs up by 9.4% just a day before the clocks go back and nights get darker. The new prices kick in from the start of December and will affect 3.6m customers. It is the first price rise by one of the 'big six' suppliers for two years and could pave t
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