London midday: Rally stalls
15th May 2009 12:15
Weak properties and oils have pitched the Footsie into the red, despite the continued strength of banks and miners. Shocking figures from property giant Land Securities on Wednesday are still casting a shadow over the real estate investment trusts (REITs). LandSecs leads the sector lower but Hammer
Read moreBroker snap: Barclays and HSBC get the nod from KBW
15th May 2009 09:14
Barclays, already fielding bids for its iShares business, was buoyed Friday morning by rumours of a sale of the whole of its asset management arm. US group Blackrock is rumoured to be interested in buying the unit and may be prepared to pay up to $10bn. Little wonder, then, that Keefe, Bruyette &
Read moreLondon midday: Shares tread water
14th May 2009 11:54
It is back to square one for London's blue-chips, with gains on banks and miners cancelled out by losses on oils and telecoms giant BT. Banks suffered some profit taking earlier in the week but are bouncing back, helped by a research note on the sector from Morgan Stanley. The US investment bank ha
Read moreImperial chairman buys after results
12th May 2009 17:00
Imperial Tobacco's chairman Iain Napier has lifted his stake in the firm following its first quarter results, spending more than £35,000 on shares. He took 2,257 at about 1,560p a time and now has 12,538. Imperial saw underlying earnings rise for the half-year but shares were hit because of concer
Read moreTechnical Analysis: Banks running out of steam
12th May 2009 10:56
Since March the banking sector has undergone a significant turn around in fortunes. This turnaround must be put into context of its decline since 2007. Since the peaks of 11,696.30 in February 2007 the sector has plummeted over 85% peak to trough so it was inevitable that there would be a bounce at
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