London Close: Footsie posts strong gain
21st Dec 2009 16:54
Footsie ended the day almost 2% higher after a strong performance throughout the day. The positive opening of Wall Street gave a further boost later in the afternoon. The Dow has jumped over 100 points helped by optimism that the $800bn plus Health Care Bill could get approved sooner rather than l
Read moreLondon afternoon: Dow gains lift Footsie
21st Dec 2009 14:47
Footsie is pushing forward following a strong start on Wall St fuelled by weakness in the dollar and related gains for the miners. The Dow has jumped over 80 points helped by optimism that the $800bn plus Health Care Bill could get approved sooner rather than later. Over here, Cairn Energy is sti
Read moreLondon midday: Oil fired Footsie
21st Dec 2009 12:00
Oil is fuelling the Footsie's rise today, with support from back-in-favour banks. Cairn Energy has secured a drill ship to get an early start on its exploration activities in Greenland. The oil company said drilling in Greenland will start a year ahead of schedule after it came to a deal with Hess
Read moreLondon open: Blue chips move higher
21st Dec 2009 08:46
Footsie has moved higher following a positive finish for US shares on Friday. Second line oil groups Cairn and Tullow Oil are the best performers following the spike in the crude price on Friday on renewed tension between Iran and Iraq. Banks have also rallied a little after heavy falls last week
Read moreMonday newspaper round-up: UK economy, Sports Direct, Tullow Oil
21st Dec 2009 06:35
Workers face further job cuts and wage freezes next year, the UK's biggest employers' organisation has warned, saying that the economy will not return to pre-recession growth levels for at least two years. The CBI said that although the recession had ended in the final three months of 2009, growth
Read moreLondon close: Losses narrow
15th Dec 2009 16:33
Top shares fought back late afternoon to halve losses, but most financial issues stayed lower, while oil plays also ended friendless. Turmoil in the Greek banking sector since credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded the country's sovereign debt last week continued to hurt. Barclays and HSBC were am
Read moreLondon close: Glum faces as stocks slide
8th Dec 2009 16:40
A weak start on Wall Street and serious concerns about Greece's public finances and Dubai's debt restructuring ensured London ended deep in the red Tuesday. Fears over the solvency of Greece reached new levels after Fitch downgraded its outlook on the country by one rating to 'negative'. Fellow rat
Read moreLondon afternoon: US slump adds to Footsie woes
8th Dec 2009 15:04
Footsie's losses have widened further after a poor start on Wall Street. The leading share index had already fallen sharply, with Royal Bank of Scotland in focus. Trading in the state-controlled bank briefly stopped trading and it went into 'auction' as the price tumbled below 30p, though it has s
Read moreLondon midday: RBS dominates as rumours fly
8th Dec 2009 12:16
Footsie has turned down sharply with Royal Bank of Scotland dominating the morning. Trading in the state-controlled bank briefly stopped trading and it went into 'auction' as the price tumbled below 30p, though it has since recovered a little. The auction process is used when a company's share p
Read moreLondon open: Retailers lead fallers
8th Dec 2009 08:19
London's blue chips are slightly lower after the open on Tuesday with Tesco and Game among the main fallers after the retailers updated the market. Supermarket giant Tesco is leading the FTSE 100 fallers despite reporting strong sales in the third quarter as its Clubcard reward scheme helped it dr
Read moreLondon pre-open: Shares set to drop
8th Dec 2009 07:34
London's top stocks are expected to start around 13 points lower, with investors likely to focus on figures from retailers Tesco and Game. Supermarket giant Tesco saw strong sales in the third quarter as its Clubcard reward scheme helped it draw in customers and it continued to benefit from increa
Read moreTullow partner upbeat on Ghana drilling
8th Dec 2009 07:28
Kosmos Energy, Tullow Oil's operating partner on the West Cape Three Points Block, offshore Ghana, has reported another encouraging test drilling. "We are pleased that we have successfully confirmed the second of our four oil and gas discoveries to date offshore Ghana," said Brian F Maxted, Kosmos
Read moreLondon close: Profit taking trims gains
11th Nov 2009 17:12
Better than expected unemployment figures and some relatively upbeat comments from Bank of England governor Mervyn King propelled Footsie to a new intra-day high for 2009 in the morning session, but stocks came off the top in the afternoon session. The UK unemployment rate, as measured by the Inter
Read moreLondon afternoon: Share prices froth over
11th Nov 2009 14:12
Share prices are coming off the top, though Footsie remains comfortably in positive territory thanks to strong demand for miners and insurers. Miners are wanted as metal prices pick up following news that Chinese industrial output rose to a 19-month high in October. BHP Billiton, Kazakhmys, Rio Ti
Read moreLondon midday: Footsie hits intra-day high for 2009
11th Nov 2009 12:15
The Footsie is hovering around its high for the year of 5300, after better than expected UK unemployment figures. Sentiment was little affected by Bank of England governor Mervyn King saying he thinks inflation will rise above the 2% target set by the government as the impact of quantitative easi
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