London midday: Dull morning for Footsie
4th Aug 2009 12:03
Stocks remain stuck in the red after a poor morning session with shares undermined by miners slipping back and financials under pressure. Insurer Legal & General set the tone, by slashing its interim dividend by 45% after posting a loss of £1bn on a European embedded value (EEV) basis. The half-yea
Read moreLondon opening: FTSE 100 opens lower
4th Aug 2009 08:46
Blue chips have opened lower despite good performances overnight in the US and Asia. Insurer Legal & General has set the tone, by slashing the interim dividend by 45% after posting a loss of £1bn on a European embedded value (EEV) basis. The half-year dividend has been cut to 1.11p a share from 2.0
Read moreLondon pre-open: Footsie to open unchanged
4th Aug 2009 07:46
A flat start is predicted from FTSE 100 despite the continuing stream of results RBS has confirmed that it will sell its banking operations in seven Asian countries to Australia's ANZ Group for $418m. It will sell its retail and commercial banking operations in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Indo
Read moreTullow Oil strikes again in Uganda
4th Aug 2009 07:22
Tullow Oil has made its tenth discovery in the Victoria Nile Delta play after striking oil at the Ngara-1 exploration well in Uganda. It encountered over 8 metres of net oil pay in a 17 metre gross reservoir interval after drilling a total depth of 741 metres. The well is now being suspended as a
Read moreLondon close: Eighth day of gains
22nd Jul 2009 16:27
Footsie finished with gains for the eighth day in a row to sit just shy of 4,500 points after flitting between the red and the blue for much of the day. Mining stocks weighed down the market. BHP Billiton set the tone for the sector with its annual production report this morning. Quarterly (Apr-Jun
Read moreLondon afternoon: Treading water
22nd Jul 2009 14:18
The Footsie briefly moved into positive territory over the lunch time session before easing gently back into the red. Pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline is marginally higher after a second quarter update in which it posted a fall in revenue in the second quarter as generic competition in the US
Read moreLondon close: Footsie in triple-digit advance
15th Jul 2009 16:29
Footsie climbed more than 100 points as optimism over the prospects of an economic recovery sent stocks soaring around the world. Insurer RSA to being talked of as a takeover target, with Italy's life assurance group Generali touted as the likely predator. Elsewhere in the sector Prudential and L
Read moreLondon afternoon: Equities continue winning streak
15th Jul 2009 14:52
London is on the rise for the third day in a row, a winning steak not previously seen this month. Resource stocks and insurers lead the way. Insurer RSA to being talked of as a takeover target, with Italy's life assurance group Generali touted as the likely predator. Elsewhere in the sector Prude
Read moreTullow gets formal OK for Jubilee field
15th Jul 2009 07:46
Tullow Oil has received formal approval from the Minister of Energy in Ghana for the Phase 1 Development Plan of the UK firm's Jubilee field. Work on the Floating, Production, Storage and Offtake vessel (FPSO) and subsea facilities started in July last year and is on track to deliver first oil in t
Read moreLondon close: Footsie falls for fourth week
10th Jul 2009 17:04
London's blue-chip index fell for the fourth week in succession, with insurance and resource stocks the major fallers today. Aviva was the biggest casualty as fears resurfaced about the future of the company's dividend but its fellow life assurance stocks Prudential, Standard Life, Legal & General
Read moreBroker tips: Tullow, AB Foods, Hays
9th Jul 2009 13:09
Irish oil company Tullow Oil's recent share price weakness merely reflects the slide in the price of crude, Morgan Stanley believes, and the US bank reckons the company's prospects look good over the medium term. Tullow's exciting discoveries in Uganda and Ghana are set to drive future earnings gro
Read moreBroker snap: Morgan Stanley sees medium term boost for Tullow
9th Jul 2009 13:06
Irish oil company Tullow Oil disappointed some in the market on Wednesday when it said interim revenue will likely fall 23% following a drop in production and lower commodity prices, but Morgan Stanley reckons the company's prospects look good over the medium term. The US bank argues that the recen
Read moreThursday tips round-up: Tullow Oil, Carillion, Cape
9th Jul 2009 06:05
The Independent reckons Tullow Oil is a risky bet, which is not helped by volatile oil prices, but said the company offers enough for a speculative punt. Buy. The Times says the longer-term issue of how Tullow will commercialise its Ugandan discoveries remains. Yet, at 863p, a busy drilling program
Read moreLondon close: Footsie dives as miners reverse course
8th Jul 2009 17:04
The decline of the Footsie gathered pace in the final hour as miners, which had provided some measure of support for the blue-chip index for most of the day, turned lower. As global equity markets continue to retreat life assurance stocks were the main losers. Aviva, Legal & General and Prudential
Read moreLondon afternoon: Downward drift continues
8th Jul 2009 15:36
The majority of blue-chip stocks remain lower on the day, though heavily weighted miners are limiting the extent of the fall on Footsie after positive broker comment this morning. Investec has upgraded Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, advising its clients to take advantage of recent share price weakne
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