London open: Miners, RBS lead markets higher early on
12th Aug 2013 08:17
Markets edged higher in early trading on Monday as stocks reacted to an improving outlook in China and shrugged off disappointing economic figures from Japan. Sentiment surrounding China brightened last week as better-than-expected trade figures, strong industrial production data and subdued inflat
Read moreLondon close: Stocks jump as optimism over China grows
9th Aug 2013 16:34
Markets rallied strongly on Friday as economic data from the world's top metals consumer, China, sparked some impressive gains in the heavyweight mining sector. A day after trade figures came in ahead of expectations, the outlook for China brightened further with strong industrial production figure
Read moreTesco close to deal to merge ops in China - UPDATE
9th Aug 2013 12:29
After nine years of going it alone in China, Tesco is close to striking a joint venture deal with a local hypermarket chain. The British supermarket giant said it was in exclusive talks with China Resources Enterprises about merging its Chinese business with that of CRE's retailer Vanguard. A tie
Read moreLondon midday: Markets rise on upbeat data from China, UK
9th Aug 2013 11:31
Strong data from China and increasing momentum in the UK economic recovery pushed the FTSE 100 into positive territory on Friday, though markets were rangebound as gains were limited ahead of the weekend. The FTSE 100 was trading just 0.2% higher by midday with just 25 points separating the index's
Read moreBroker tips: Lloyds, Aviva, Tesco
9th Aug 2013 11:22
Morgan Stanley has raised its rating for UK banking group Lloyds from 'equalweight' to 'overweight', saying that the company can benefit from a strong housing market while visibility on its payout improves. "We upgrade Lloyds to OW as we are more bullish than most on the outlook for UK housing, whi
Read moreBroker snap: Jefferies encouraged by Tesco's merger talks in China
9th Aug 2013 11:12
Tesco's potential deal to merge its Chinese operations with those of China Resources Enterprise (CRE) should help the supermarket giant's transformation into a more focused, cash-generative and higher-rated grocer, according to broker Jefferies. The broker maintained its 'buy' rating and 440p targe
Read moreLondon open: Miners lift markets as concerns over China ease
9th Aug 2013 08:45
Worries over a slowdown in China eased temporarily on Friday morning after a barrage of strong economic figures from the world's second-largest economy sparked decent gains in the mining sector in London. Chinese industrial production increased at an annual rate of 9.7% in July, an acceleration fr
Read moreTesco close to deal to merge operations in China
9th Aug 2013 07:04
Tesco is in exclusive talks to combine its operations in China with local chain Vanguard to create a business with sales of some 10bn pounds. The UK supermarket group said it had entered a memorandum of understanding with Vanguard's parent company China Resources Enterprises but that the transactio
Read moreWednesday newspaper round-up: Sainsbury's and Tesco in price war
7th Aug 2013 06:49
New data has revealed Sainsbury's is increasing the price of its food ahead of rival Tesco, adding a fresh twist to the price row between the two supermarkets, The Telegraph reported. Fitch Ratings has warned that the UK government's Help to Buy Scheme risks enriching builders and banks while jeop
Read moreWednesday newspaper round-up: Barclays, BNP-Paribas, JP Morgan
31st Jul 2013 06:42
The Bank of England has confessed to helping the Nazis sell gold plundered from Czechoslovakia months before the outbreak of the Second World War, The Telegraph revealed. Barclays plans to pay 511m pounds in new executive and staff bonuses along with raising 5.8bn pounds to address its capital sho
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: Portugal, Dog-funds, Invensys
21st Jul 2013 13:14
The Eurozone debt crisis threatened to erupt again this weekend, with the Portuguese government close to collapse and new tensions in Cyprus. Talks between Portugal's three main political parties on a "national salvation pact" failed late on Friday ? raising the threat of a snap election. Portuguese
Read moreBroker tips: Tesco, Kingfisher, AG Barr
15th Jul 2013 11:44
The pricing gap between Tesco and rival supermarket Asda was the highest in two years in June, according to Morgan Stanley. The latest results of the broker's AlphaWise UK Food Retail Price Tracker show that its sample basket was 5.2% less expensive at Asda than at Tesco last month. Morgan Stanley
Read moreBroker snap: Tesco-Asda pricing gap widens, says Morgan Stanley
15th Jul 2013 10:24
The pricing gap between Tesco and rival supermarket Asda was the highest in two years in June, according to Morgan Stanley. The latest results of the broker's AlphaWise UK Food Retail Price Tracker show that its sample basket was 5.2% less expensive at Asda than at Tesco last month. This compared
Read moreMonday newspaper round-up: Tesco, BP, Morrison
15th Jul 2013 06:39
Tesco is looking to open its first store that combines a large Tesco Extra and a Dobbies garden centre in October, The Times reported. BP claims that US law firms in the Gulf of Mexico area have won some of the biggest compensation awards for themselves under settlements for the Deepwater Horizon
Read moreBroker snap: Tesco, Morrison boosted by Exane upgrade
10th Jul 2013 17:28
Share prices of rival supermarket chains Tesco and Morrison received a boost on Wednesday after Exane BNP Paribas raised its ratings for both stocks. Tesco was 1.72% higher at 349.5p in afternoon trade after Exane upgraded the company from 'neutral' to 'outperform' and named it as its "favoured mak
Read more