London pre-open: Markets subdued ahead of central banks' statements
12th Jan 2012 07:33
City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open up 8 points from yesterday's close of 5,670 ahead of today's European Central Bank and Bank of England interest rate announcements. 'Must do better' is the theme of Tesco's Christmas trading statement, as the UK's leading supermarket chain reported UK sa
Read moreTesco says profit growth to be at low end, undercutting share price
12th Jan 2012 06:57
'Must do better' is the theme of Tesco's Christmas trading statement, as the UK's leading supermarket chain saw sales performance in its home market fall below expectations, prompting the company to advise full-year trading profit growth will be around the low end of the range of analysts' expectati
Read moreThursday preview: Tesco's travails in the UK to continue
11th Jan 2012 14:59
There are not many things Britain's number one retailer Tesco does not sell, or so it seems, but tin hats are not among their product lines, which is unfortunate as shareholders may have need of some protection when the supermarket chain issues its Christmas trading update on Thursday. It is hard t
Read moreGreat Christmas for Sainsbury, now for the Queen's jubilee
11th Jan 2012 07:02
Confirmation that supermarket chain Sainsbury has regained its mojo came in the form of the group's best ever Christmas sales performance, which topped the market's expectations. The group was widely expected to have had the best Christmas of the major UK players, and it appears to have set a high
Read moreLondon midday: Resource stocks lift Footsie, Gulf Keystone jumps
10th Jan 2012 12:00
Resource stocks performed well in morning trade, lifting the FTSE 100 over 1.1% higher. Miners were gaining ground after some positive economic data from China boosted sentiment, while Cairn Energy was on the up after detailing its $3.5bn cash return to shareholders. A big mover was Gulf Keystone,
Read moreTuesday broker round-up - UPDATE
10th Jan 2012 09:15
Cairn Energy: Oriel upgrades to add from hold. Tesco: Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgrades to neutral from buy. Marks & Spencer: Panmure Gordon reiterates hold and 307p target; Peel Hunt maintains hold and 350p target. Barclays: UBS cuts target from 215p to 199p, neutral rating unchanged. R
Read moreFTSE 100: ENRC soars on dispute settlement
5th Jan 2012 13:22
Shares in Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) leapt on news it has settled a dispute with Canadian mining firm First Quantum over assets in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The two disgruntled companies have reached an agreement under which ENRC will pay First Quantum £1.25bn for the ma
Read moreLondon close: Footsie flounders at the finish
21st Dec 2011 16:40
It was a day of two halves for the Footsie, with the morning's gains reversed in the afternoon session in the wake of the result of the European Central Bank's new three-year credit facility. The European Central Bank allotted €489.2bn in its auction of three-year loans, whereas the market had been
Read moreFTSE 100 Movers: Lloyds leads banks higher
21st Dec 2011 12:58
Banks, in particular Lloyds, were on the rise today, despite credit ratings agency Moody's saying Britain's cherished triple-AAA credit rating could be under threat if the Eurozone crisis worsens. Moody's Investors Service said last night: "Any additional weakening in the macro-economic outlook or
Read moreLondon midday: Footsie laid low by Unicredit, rumours of French downgrade?
21st Dec 2011 11:39
The banks were providing a lift at midday, but the Footsie was registering only slight gains with only a few days before Christmas. Hopes of a 'Santa rally' seem to have been dampened towards midday by the suspension from trading of shares of Unicredit 'limit-down'. They have since resumed trading
Read moreWednesday broker round-up - UDPATE
21st Dec 2011 08:51
HSBC: Investec reiterates buy with 800p target. Barclays: Investec reiterates buy with 330p target. Tesco: Nomura maintains buy rating and 500p target. AstraZeneca: Nomura keeps reduce recommendation and 2,400p target. Thorntons: Investec puts 35p target under review, hold rating kept; Merchant
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: ECB, India, Next, LSE
18th Dec 2011 14:49
Risk appetite recovered a bit towards the end of last week, as evinced by the rise in the Euro/dollar cross to over 1.30 on Friday, the Financial Times writes in this weekend´s edition. Likewise, in general Eurozone government bonds did well, although Italian 10 year bond yields did rise by 20 basis
Read moreBroker snap: ING cautious on European retailers, M&S and Tesco
14th Dec 2011 15:06
Analysts at broker ING have today downgraded their ratings on several of Europe's major retailers, such as Carrefour, Tesco (from buy to sell) and Marks&Spencer (from hold to sell). ING has expressed its caution regarding the sector due to the on-going Eurozone crisis and the associated fiscal aust
Read moreWednesday broker round-up - UPDATE
14th Dec 2011 10:09
Tesco: ING downgrades to sell from buy. Marks&Spencer: ING downgrades to sell from hold. Morrison: ING upgrades from hold to buy. Rio Tinto: Credit Suisse reiterates outperform recommendation and 5,000p target. London Stock Exchange: Credit Suisse upgrades from underperform to neutral, 850p tar
Read moreFriday tips round-up: Tesco, AstraZeneca, Standard Chartered
9th Dec 2011 06:46
The Telegraph's Questor column takes a look at a familiar name, Tesco, the UK's largest retailer. Yesterday it revealed the fourth quarter of reduced like-for-like sales in the UK. Its new boss Philip Clarke admits this isn't good enough and the Big Price Drop strategy was an attempt to tempt in ne
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