The FTSE closed up 96 points today at 5,625.9, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 41 points at 9,145.8.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up nearly 80 points at 11,426, whilst the S&P500 was up almost 10 points at 1,288, and the Nasdaq up 9 points at 2,324.58. This despite falling on opening.
Back here in London, it was the oil heavyweights and miners that helped the FTSE. With oil at over US$143 bbl, BP closed up 18p at 583.25p, RD Shell up 58p at 2,020, and BG Group up 56p at 1,307p. Tullow Oil, however, closed down 20p at 955p after some profit taking. Oil services group Wood Group closed up nearly 25p at 494.5p.
On to the miners, where metal prices were up and so were the bigger miners. Also, reports that billionaire businessman Lakshmi Mittal is sniffing with intent on getting in to the takeover battle for Rio Tinto gained strength. Press said that Mittal, chairman of ArcelorMittal, and main shareholder, is supposed to be very keen to gain some control and secure larger supplies of iron ore. This all helped Rio, who closed up 166p at 6,009, whilst peers followed the rise with smiles, as Anglo closed up 130p at 3,526, Xstrata up 90p at 4,024p, and BHP up 45p at 1,920.
On to the banks, where more pressure was on them again. Barclays closed down 6.5p at 291.5p, Lloyds TSB down 6.25p at just shy of 311p, HBOS down 2.5p at 276p, and RBS down almost 3p at 215p. MOre write-downs to come, is the belief.
On to telecoms/communications, where Vodafone closed up almost 7.5p at 149.15p after it said of the launch of a music platform on the web with MySpace. Peers were also up, with Cable & Wireless up 3.4p at 150.8 after saying it has made a 180p per share improved cash offer for Thus Group, which valued Thus at £329m. Thus said the improved offer is "worthy of consideration", which means they like it. Or the shareholders in the board do, at least.
ICAP, the inter-broker dealer closed up 12.5p at 542p after a Merrill Lynch upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral', but lowered its target by 39p toi 650p.
On to media, where ITV took a bit of a pasting, closing down 2.8p at 44.7p after investors decided that the OFT refreal to the UK Competition Commission for its planned JV with BBC & C4 for the video-on-demand service. Trinity Mirror's profit warning didn't do the media sector any favours, either. The Daily Mirror publisher said that a 10% reduction in its profits this year was likely due to 'difficult trading conditions', and warned for the future by saying it was 'cautious', prompting Cazenove to downgrade the publisher to 'underperform' from 'in-line', causing the shares to close down 42.5p at 109p. Peers were effected, with Johnston Press closing down 5p at 52p, and Daily Mail & General Trust closing down 16p at jiust shy of 314p.
Southern Cross Healthcare closed down 183p to 130p after the care-home provider said it is unlikely to meet its own forecasts for bed occupancy rates and has had to renegotiate its loan terms.
Grainger closed up over 13p at 215p after Regis Group confirmed it was sniffing, but not firmly sniffing. Just yet.
Monday, 30 June 2008
Morning Market, Monday 30th June 2008
The FTSE was up 11 points this morning at 5,541, whilst the FTSE 250 was down 5 points at 9,100.
Over the pond on Friday the DJI closed down nearly 107 points at 11,346.51, which is the lowest level in 21 months, down 20% from its high of October last year. The S&P500 closed down nearly 5 points at 1,278.38, whilst the Nasdaq down nearly 6 points at 2,315.63, with all three main indicies down 3% on the week.
In the Far East this morning, the Nikkei 225 closed down nearly 63 points at 13,481.38, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down over 10 points at 22,031 by lunchtime.
With the weaker dollar the oil price was up, not at nearly US$143.50 bbl. This helped the oil heavyweights, with BP up 4.5p at 570p, RD Shell up 13p at 2,028, and BG Group up 11p at 1,262p.
The weaker dollar also helped metal prices. Anglo was up nearly 70p at 3,466p, Anto up 13p at 668p, Xstrata was up 85p at 4,019, and Rio was up 125p at 5,968p after news that Lakshmi Mittal are also apprenelty entering in to the bidding war for the company. Well, not bidding war, but there is definitely a takeover aimed at by more than one party now.
Power generator Drax Group was up 8p at 745p after saying its full-year results will be slightly higher than recent market consensus. The company added that it expects to report EBITDA above the £400m analyst consensus.
ICAP, the inter broker dealer, was up 13p at 543p after a Merrill Lynch upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral', adding a 650p target, down from 689p.
Vodafone was 3.3 stronger at 145 after it said it launched a music platform on the web with MySpace.
Southern Cross Healthcare fell 218p to 95p - a 70% fall - after saying that it is unlikely to meet its forecasts for bed occupancy rates, blaming local authorities not getting their funding. It also added that it is trying to sort out a later repaymnet date on its £46m loan.
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey was down a penny to 61p after weekend [press said they wanted to raise £500m.
WPP, the advertising group, was down 9p at 475p after weekend press reports that it may offer more than £1 bln for Taylor Nelson Sofres, which is also set to merge with Germnay's GfK.
Trinity Mirror was down 37p at 114p after saying that its full-year profits will be 10% lower, adding that the outlook isn't great. Well, they said 'uncertain', but that means poor, really. A Cazenove downgrade to 'underperform' from 'in-line' followed. Staying with media, ITV was down 1.4p at 46.1p too.
Over the pond on Friday the DJI closed down nearly 107 points at 11,346.51, which is the lowest level in 21 months, down 20% from its high of October last year. The S&P500 closed down nearly 5 points at 1,278.38, whilst the Nasdaq down nearly 6 points at 2,315.63, with all three main indicies down 3% on the week.
In the Far East this morning, the Nikkei 225 closed down nearly 63 points at 13,481.38, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down over 10 points at 22,031 by lunchtime.
With the weaker dollar the oil price was up, not at nearly US$143.50 bbl. This helped the oil heavyweights, with BP up 4.5p at 570p, RD Shell up 13p at 2,028, and BG Group up 11p at 1,262p.
The weaker dollar also helped metal prices. Anglo was up nearly 70p at 3,466p, Anto up 13p at 668p, Xstrata was up 85p at 4,019, and Rio was up 125p at 5,968p after news that Lakshmi Mittal are also apprenelty entering in to the bidding war for the company. Well, not bidding war, but there is definitely a takeover aimed at by more than one party now.
Power generator Drax Group was up 8p at 745p after saying its full-year results will be slightly higher than recent market consensus. The company added that it expects to report EBITDA above the £400m analyst consensus.
ICAP, the inter broker dealer, was up 13p at 543p after a Merrill Lynch upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral', adding a 650p target, down from 689p.
Vodafone was 3.3 stronger at 145 after it said it launched a music platform on the web with MySpace.
Southern Cross Healthcare fell 218p to 95p - a 70% fall - after saying that it is unlikely to meet its forecasts for bed occupancy rates, blaming local authorities not getting their funding. It also added that it is trying to sort out a later repaymnet date on its £46m loan.
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey was down a penny to 61p after weekend [press said they wanted to raise £500m.
WPP, the advertising group, was down 9p at 475p after weekend press reports that it may offer more than £1 bln for Taylor Nelson Sofres, which is also set to merge with Germnay's GfK.
Trinity Mirror was down 37p at 114p after saying that its full-year profits will be 10% lower, adding that the outlook isn't great. Well, they said 'uncertain', but that means poor, really. A Cazenove downgrade to 'underperform' from 'in-line' followed. Staying with media, ITV was down 1.4p at 46.1p too.
Friday, 27 June 2008
Market Wrap, Friday 27th June 2008
The FTSE closed up 11.7 points at 5,529.9, about 23 points off the session high, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 2.5 points at 9,104.8. It was the miners and oil heavyweights that helped today.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down about 55 points at 11,398.59, whilst the S&P500 was down a point at 1,282, and the Nasdaq down 10 points at 2,311.
As the dollar weekened further, oil hit US$142 bbl. This oil price did help the London oil heavyweights, though.
Here in London it was those oil heavyweights that helped the FTSE. RD Shell closed up 27p at 1,962, BG Group up 53p at 1,251, Tullow Oil up 49p at 975p, and cairn Enregy up 121p at 3,207p after a Cazenove upgrade to 'outperform' from 'in-line'. Other oil stocks did well too, with Premier Oil up 81 pence at 1,609, and JKX Oil & Gas up 27.5p at 521.5p.
On to the miners, where Kazakhmys closed up 54p at 1,609p after a Deutsche Bank upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' and 19-quid target, whilst Lonmin closed up 129p at 3,288p, BHP up 67p at 1,875, and ENRC up 43p at 1,340p.
On to banks, where Barclays closed down nearly 6p at 298p as rumours that the bank's £4.5 bln cash input from Qatar may not be enough. Bradford & Bingley closed down nearly 17p at 63.25p after news that Resolution has withdrawn its alternate funding proposals due to management resistance. The proposal was rejected by B&B on Tuesday.
Food retailers were down after Carrefour, the French supermarket giant said that it had lowered its profit estimates. Tesco closed down 4.2p at 360.5 afterr its AGM today, whilst Sainsburys was down over 6p at just shy of 309p, and Morrisons closed down nearly 6p at 262.5p.
BAE Systems closed up 9p at 427.5p as investors liked the news that outgoing chief executive Mike Turner will be replaced from within as COO Ian King will take the chair from 1st September.
On to the housebuilders, where news from Berkeley Group said of higher full-year pre-tax profits on stronger revenues, and also that it is confident of maintaining its operating performance through this next year. This gave the sahres and sector a well accepted boost, with Berkeley Group closed up 31p at 694p, Taylor Wimpey up 7p at 62p and Bellway Home closed up 27p at 470.25p.
Plumbing group Wolseley closed down 16p at 388p after an ABN Amro downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold' after news of poor results from U.S. housebuilder KB Homes.
Media giant Thomson Reuters closed down 42p at 1,317 after Collins Stewart reiterated its 'sell' stance and lowered its target to 1,265p from 1,420p.
WSP Group closed down 21p at 529p on profit taking after a trading update said things were in-line with expectations.
BBA Aviation closed down 2.5p at 128p after announcing that the last copuple of mon ths trading was in-line with expectations, but Panmure Gordon reiterated its 'sel' stance and 120p target.
On to transport, where National Express closed up 24.5p at 941.5p after an upbeat statement, whilst Stagecoach closed up 8p at 276.25p, and Firstgroup up 18.5p at 522.5p.
Tech firm ARM Holdings closed up 2.5p at 87.5p after a Credit Suisse upgrade to 'outperform' from 'neutral', citing the new smartphone and 3G are doing very well because it believes the group is the safest way to play these themes.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down about 55 points at 11,398.59, whilst the S&P500 was down a point at 1,282, and the Nasdaq down 10 points at 2,311.
As the dollar weekened further, oil hit US$142 bbl. This oil price did help the London oil heavyweights, though.
Here in London it was those oil heavyweights that helped the FTSE. RD Shell closed up 27p at 1,962, BG Group up 53p at 1,251, Tullow Oil up 49p at 975p, and cairn Enregy up 121p at 3,207p after a Cazenove upgrade to 'outperform' from 'in-line'. Other oil stocks did well too, with Premier Oil up 81 pence at 1,609, and JKX Oil & Gas up 27.5p at 521.5p.
On to the miners, where Kazakhmys closed up 54p at 1,609p after a Deutsche Bank upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' and 19-quid target, whilst Lonmin closed up 129p at 3,288p, BHP up 67p at 1,875, and ENRC up 43p at 1,340p.
On to banks, where Barclays closed down nearly 6p at 298p as rumours that the bank's £4.5 bln cash input from Qatar may not be enough. Bradford & Bingley closed down nearly 17p at 63.25p after news that Resolution has withdrawn its alternate funding proposals due to management resistance. The proposal was rejected by B&B on Tuesday.
Food retailers were down after Carrefour, the French supermarket giant said that it had lowered its profit estimates. Tesco closed down 4.2p at 360.5 afterr its AGM today, whilst Sainsburys was down over 6p at just shy of 309p, and Morrisons closed down nearly 6p at 262.5p.
BAE Systems closed up 9p at 427.5p as investors liked the news that outgoing chief executive Mike Turner will be replaced from within as COO Ian King will take the chair from 1st September.
On to the housebuilders, where news from Berkeley Group said of higher full-year pre-tax profits on stronger revenues, and also that it is confident of maintaining its operating performance through this next year. This gave the sahres and sector a well accepted boost, with Berkeley Group closed up 31p at 694p, Taylor Wimpey up 7p at 62p and Bellway Home closed up 27p at 470.25p.
Plumbing group Wolseley closed down 16p at 388p after an ABN Amro downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold' after news of poor results from U.S. housebuilder KB Homes.
Media giant Thomson Reuters closed down 42p at 1,317 after Collins Stewart reiterated its 'sell' stance and lowered its target to 1,265p from 1,420p.
WSP Group closed down 21p at 529p on profit taking after a trading update said things were in-line with expectations.
BBA Aviation closed down 2.5p at 128p after announcing that the last copuple of mon ths trading was in-line with expectations, but Panmure Gordon reiterated its 'sel' stance and 120p target.
On to transport, where National Express closed up 24.5p at 941.5p after an upbeat statement, whilst Stagecoach closed up 8p at 276.25p, and Firstgroup up 18.5p at 522.5p.
Tech firm ARM Holdings closed up 2.5p at 87.5p after a Credit Suisse upgrade to 'outperform' from 'neutral', citing the new smartphone and 3G are doing very well because it believes the group is the safest way to play these themes.
Morning Market, Friday 27th June 2008
The FTSE was down about 40 poiints at 5,478 this morning, whilst the FTSE 250 was down 90 points at 9,017.
last night over the pond the DJI closed down 358.41 points at 11,453.42, whislt the S&P500 closed down 38.82 at 1,283.15, and he Nasdaq down 79.89 points at 2,321.37. All down at least 3% each. Feeling and word around was that there will be bad news from the financial sector. Goldman Sachs had downgraded the car and tech sectors too, we can't forget.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down nearly 300 points at 13,525.72 and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down just over 400 points by lunchtime chow time.
On to oil, where in Asian trade the price of the black stuff was over US$139 bbl, and had actually traded thru' the $140 bbl level during the session. This wasn't helped by OPEC's statement that it reckons oil coiuld be $150 to $170 bbl this summer.
Here in London this monring, the oil heavyweights were up as a result of the oil price. BP was up 6p at 576p, RD Shell up 14p at 1,999, BG Group up 13p at 1,211, Tullow Oil up 22p at 948p, and Cairn Energy up 109p at 3,195, with Cairn also helped by a Cazenove upgrade to 'outperform' from 'in-line'.
On to mining, where Kazakhmys was up 25p at 1,580, helped by a Deutche Bank upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' and 9-quid target, up 10%. Peers were stronger too, with Anto up 14p at 662p, Vedanta up 35p at 2,220, Xstrata up 60p at 3,939, and Lonmin up 75p at 3,234p.
What with the price of oil, oil-related movements included British Airways, who were down 2p at 209p this morning, whilst cruise ship operator was down 60p at 1,581p.
On to the bnaks, where it wasn't a good morning. Goldman Sachs statement and downgrade of Citibank yesterday was still ringing in everyone's ears. Barclays was down 6p at 297.5, HBOS was down 8p at 268p, and Lloyds TSB was down 1p at 306p.
Retailers were down as well, all taking note of the John Lewis statem,ent that sales have fallen 6 out of the last 7 weeks, and were down 1.2% on last year. Next was down 29p at 950p, whilst supermarkets suffered too, as Tesco was down 9.5p at 355.2p, and Sainsburys down 8p at 307p.
Plumbing merchant Wolseley was down 6p at 398p after an ABN Amro downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold'.
National Express Group was up 17p at 934p after saying it expects growth this year, and that its new East Coast UK rail franchise continues to see "excellent" revenue growth of 11%. It also said that its rail punctuality was up to 90%.
last night over the pond the DJI closed down 358.41 points at 11,453.42, whislt the S&P500 closed down 38.82 at 1,283.15, and he Nasdaq down 79.89 points at 2,321.37. All down at least 3% each. Feeling and word around was that there will be bad news from the financial sector. Goldman Sachs had downgraded the car and tech sectors too, we can't forget.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down nearly 300 points at 13,525.72 and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down just over 400 points by lunchtime chow time.
On to oil, where in Asian trade the price of the black stuff was over US$139 bbl, and had actually traded thru' the $140 bbl level during the session. This wasn't helped by OPEC's statement that it reckons oil coiuld be $150 to $170 bbl this summer.
Here in London this monring, the oil heavyweights were up as a result of the oil price. BP was up 6p at 576p, RD Shell up 14p at 1,999, BG Group up 13p at 1,211, Tullow Oil up 22p at 948p, and Cairn Energy up 109p at 3,195, with Cairn also helped by a Cazenove upgrade to 'outperform' from 'in-line'.
On to mining, where Kazakhmys was up 25p at 1,580, helped by a Deutche Bank upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' and 9-quid target, up 10%. Peers were stronger too, with Anto up 14p at 662p, Vedanta up 35p at 2,220, Xstrata up 60p at 3,939, and Lonmin up 75p at 3,234p.
What with the price of oil, oil-related movements included British Airways, who were down 2p at 209p this morning, whilst cruise ship operator was down 60p at 1,581p.
On to the bnaks, where it wasn't a good morning. Goldman Sachs statement and downgrade of Citibank yesterday was still ringing in everyone's ears. Barclays was down 6p at 297.5, HBOS was down 8p at 268p, and Lloyds TSB was down 1p at 306p.
Retailers were down as well, all taking note of the John Lewis statem,ent that sales have fallen 6 out of the last 7 weeks, and were down 1.2% on last year. Next was down 29p at 950p, whilst supermarkets suffered too, as Tesco was down 9.5p at 355.2p, and Sainsburys down 8p at 307p.
Plumbing merchant Wolseley was down 6p at 398p after an ABN Amro downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold'.
National Express Group was up 17p at 934p after saying it expects growth this year, and that its new East Coast UK rail franchise continues to see "excellent" revenue growth of 11%. It also said that its rail punctuality was up to 90%.
Thursday, 26 June 2008
Market Wrap, Thursday 26th June 2008
The FTSE 100 closed down 147.9 points at 5,518.2, the low of the day, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 213.9 points at 9,107.3. The banks taking the hits.
Leading shares continued its fall in afternoon deals to close almost 150 points lower, dragged down by a global sell-off in the banking sector after downbeat comments from Goldman Sachs while Wall Street showed similar losses.
By the time London closed the DJI was down 232 points at 11,579.9, whilst the S&P500 was down nearly 26 points at 1,296, and the Nasdaq down nearly 59 points at 2,342. Goldman Sachs was partly to blame, it seems, as they are bieng blamed for the banks falling. They warned of further bank write downs are required and basically added that any mini revival was false. Goldmans added a sector downgrade to the sector as a whole, and picked out Citigroup as a 'sell'. You know who your mates are. Mind you, they have only confirmed what everyone already knows. It seems everyone waits for someone of some sort of respected staturs to stand up and so things how they are.
Back here in London, it was the banks that were also (not) thanking Goldman Sachs for the statement. The banks all fell back. Barclays was down 27.25p at just shy of 304p, RBS down 11.25p at 218p, HBOS down 16p at 276p, and Lloyds TSB down nearly 22p at just shy of 307p. Standard Chartered closed down 116p at 1,453 despite a decent start to the day, as investors decided that a strong first half of the year didn't mean the 2nd half would be the same. The bank had also mentioend the now cliched 'cautious' outlook. One exception was Bradford & Bingley, which closed up 4.5p at 80p after Resolution confirmed the bank had said "no" to the investment vehicle checking its books, which didn't help the planned £400m cash input, which the bank described as something it wouldn't reccommend to shareholders".
OIl; was up 3-bucks a barrel. Even OPEC themselves admitted that the current $140 bbl ceiling looking like breaking, with a US$150 to US$170 figure being hit in a month or two.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) closed down 123.5p at 828.5p, off 13%, bascially reversing the big jumpo yesterday, after Merrill Lynch didn't like what happened yesterday (it seems) and decided it needed to reiterate its 'underperform' stance on the London Exchange and then said its target was down £1.40 to 880p. So much for the Qatari deal or tie up. We are old fashioned. The LSE shouldn't even be listed. It should be government owned. British. No foreign investment in the greatest financial centre in the world. Still, moving on...
And ,on from this morning, British Sky Broadcasting closed down 24p at just shy of 471p after a JP Morgan downgrade to 'underweight' from 'overweight', adding a 560p target, down from 7-quid, blaming expected advertising revnues to be a lot lower under current world conditions.
Thomson Reuters closed down 80p at 1,359 after Morgan Stanley reminded everyone of its 'underweight' statement, and gave a lower target of 1,280p, down from 1,420, citing fundamentals and expected growth. Or lack of it.
On to the High Street, Marks & Sparks closed down nearly 12p at 338.5p after a Dresdner Kleinwort downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy', adding 360p target, down from 460p, whilst peer Next closed down 48.5p at 978.5p. Currys & PC World owner DSG International announced a drop of 30% in profits, adding a 'cautious' ongoing outlook, causing the stock to close down 2.5p at 42.5p.
Supermarket chain Tesco closed down 16.3p at 364.7p.
Lucky the miners and oilers were strong, or the fall would have been far worse. With the exchange weighted heavily by these stocks, the true fall was somewhat masked. Sort of. Anyway, with gold and copper doing well, so did a few of the main heavyweights, with Anglo up 18p at 3,303, Lonmin up 92p at 3,159, and Cairn Energy up 47p at 3,086.
With oil up another 3-bucks again, the oil heavyweights didn't suffer too much. BP closed down just 3.75p at 570p amongst a sea of red, whilst RD Shell actually closed unchanged at 1,935p.
The housebuilders suffered after a Credit Suisse sector comment and some lower targets took its toll. Persimmon closed down 37p at 302p after a 270p target was called, Barratts down 4.25p at 67p after a 100p target, and Taylor Wimpey down 1.5p at 55p with a 70p target.
Moneysupermarket.com closed down 12.25p at 106.5p after a fairly ok trading statement, but just pulled down by all the negative feeling around. Even Cazenove reiterated its 'outperform' stance.
Leading shares continued its fall in afternoon deals to close almost 150 points lower, dragged down by a global sell-off in the banking sector after downbeat comments from Goldman Sachs while Wall Street showed similar losses.
By the time London closed the DJI was down 232 points at 11,579.9, whilst the S&P500 was down nearly 26 points at 1,296, and the Nasdaq down nearly 59 points at 2,342. Goldman Sachs was partly to blame, it seems, as they are bieng blamed for the banks falling. They warned of further bank write downs are required and basically added that any mini revival was false. Goldmans added a sector downgrade to the sector as a whole, and picked out Citigroup as a 'sell'. You know who your mates are. Mind you, they have only confirmed what everyone already knows. It seems everyone waits for someone of some sort of respected staturs to stand up and so things how they are.
Back here in London, it was the banks that were also (not) thanking Goldman Sachs for the statement. The banks all fell back. Barclays was down 27.25p at just shy of 304p, RBS down 11.25p at 218p, HBOS down 16p at 276p, and Lloyds TSB down nearly 22p at just shy of 307p. Standard Chartered closed down 116p at 1,453 despite a decent start to the day, as investors decided that a strong first half of the year didn't mean the 2nd half would be the same. The bank had also mentioend the now cliched 'cautious' outlook. One exception was Bradford & Bingley, which closed up 4.5p at 80p after Resolution confirmed the bank had said "no" to the investment vehicle checking its books, which didn't help the planned £400m cash input, which the bank described as something it wouldn't reccommend to shareholders".
OIl; was up 3-bucks a barrel. Even OPEC themselves admitted that the current $140 bbl ceiling looking like breaking, with a US$150 to US$170 figure being hit in a month or two.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) closed down 123.5p at 828.5p, off 13%, bascially reversing the big jumpo yesterday, after Merrill Lynch didn't like what happened yesterday (it seems) and decided it needed to reiterate its 'underperform' stance on the London Exchange and then said its target was down £1.40 to 880p. So much for the Qatari deal or tie up. We are old fashioned. The LSE shouldn't even be listed. It should be government owned. British. No foreign investment in the greatest financial centre in the world. Still, moving on...
And ,on from this morning, British Sky Broadcasting closed down 24p at just shy of 471p after a JP Morgan downgrade to 'underweight' from 'overweight', adding a 560p target, down from 7-quid, blaming expected advertising revnues to be a lot lower under current world conditions.
Thomson Reuters closed down 80p at 1,359 after Morgan Stanley reminded everyone of its 'underweight' statement, and gave a lower target of 1,280p, down from 1,420, citing fundamentals and expected growth. Or lack of it.
On to the High Street, Marks & Sparks closed down nearly 12p at 338.5p after a Dresdner Kleinwort downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy', adding 360p target, down from 460p, whilst peer Next closed down 48.5p at 978.5p. Currys & PC World owner DSG International announced a drop of 30% in profits, adding a 'cautious' ongoing outlook, causing the stock to close down 2.5p at 42.5p.
Supermarket chain Tesco closed down 16.3p at 364.7p.
Lucky the miners and oilers were strong, or the fall would have been far worse. With the exchange weighted heavily by these stocks, the true fall was somewhat masked. Sort of. Anyway, with gold and copper doing well, so did a few of the main heavyweights, with Anglo up 18p at 3,303, Lonmin up 92p at 3,159, and Cairn Energy up 47p at 3,086.
With oil up another 3-bucks again, the oil heavyweights didn't suffer too much. BP closed down just 3.75p at 570p amongst a sea of red, whilst RD Shell actually closed unchanged at 1,935p.
The housebuilders suffered after a Credit Suisse sector comment and some lower targets took its toll. Persimmon closed down 37p at 302p after a 270p target was called, Barratts down 4.25p at 67p after a 100p target, and Taylor Wimpey down 1.5p at 55p with a 70p target.
Moneysupermarket.com closed down 12.25p at 106.5p after a fairly ok trading statement, but just pulled down by all the negative feeling around. Even Cazenove reiterated its 'outperform' stance.
Morning Market, 26th June 2008
The FTSE was down about 27 points at 5,639.4 this morning, whilst the FTSE 250 was down nearly 60 points at 9,262. Reaction to Wall Street's reverse of direction yesterday played oin LOndon this morning,m it seems, and yesterday rise in the FTSE was nearly wiped out in the first hour this morning.
Over the pond, last night the DJI closed up 4.4 points at 11,811.83, which is a shame as it initially ran up 100 points after the Fed Reserve's announcement today. The S&P500 closed up 7.68 points at 1,321.97, whilst the Nasdaq closed up 32.98 points at 2,401.26. As we said, the Dow had responded positively at first, and was still up about 70 points by the time London closed, but reading betwen the lines the accompanying statement to the freeze in interest rates at 2% wasn't very positive, and most saw as a varied statement.
Oil had been down and then up again, with the reserves now being reported as lower. Oil was about US$134.50 bbl.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down 7.6 points at 13,822.32, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up nearly 98 points at 22,733 by lunchtime.
Back here in London, the banks were down again, with Standard Chartered down 49p at 1,520 this morning. The Asian concentrated bank gives a tarding update at 9:30 this morning. Peers also fell, with Barclays down 15p at 316p despite a Morgan Stanley upgrade to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight', an HBOS was down 10p to 282p, which is close to the £4 bln 275p rights issue price.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) was down 50p at 902p, which takes away a chunk of the jump yesterday, after Merrill Lynch reiterated its 'underperform' stance and cut its target to 880, down from 920p. Rumours that the LSE will still do some sort of partnership deal in QWatar were also doing the rounds on the floor. The news about a the pan-European equities platform which is created by the LSE and Lehman Brothers hasn't been taken well, either.
British Sky Broadcasting was down 17p to 478p after a JP Morgan downgrade to 'underweight' from 'overweight' with a 560p target, down from 7-quid, citing advertising revenue concerns.
The miners tried to help thsi morning, though, with metal prices smiling. Anglo smiled too, up 44p at 3,329p, as did Vedanta, up 17p at 2,268, and Anto, up 3.5p at 656.5p. Vedanta also informed of its plans to have a Bond issue to raise US$1.25 bln, so to fund ongoing acquisitions and other business.
With oil still strong, invstors moved in the the oil heavyweights BP was up 6p at 580p, and RD Shell up 21p at 2,005.
Wellstream Holdings, the oil services company, was down 52p at 1,253p on profit taking. The tarding statement was good, but the share price has risen three-fold in the last year, so investors felt they should bag some profits.
DSG International, who own Currys and PC World, was up 2.5p at 47.5p after reporting a 30% decline in its 12 month profit figure, adding it was "cautious" moving forward. However, as most of th wbad news seems to already be in the price, Numis thought things could only get better and upgraded DSG to 'hold' from 'reduce'.
Over the pond, last night the DJI closed up 4.4 points at 11,811.83, which is a shame as it initially ran up 100 points after the Fed Reserve's announcement today. The S&P500 closed up 7.68 points at 1,321.97, whilst the Nasdaq closed up 32.98 points at 2,401.26. As we said, the Dow had responded positively at first, and was still up about 70 points by the time London closed, but reading betwen the lines the accompanying statement to the freeze in interest rates at 2% wasn't very positive, and most saw as a varied statement.
Oil had been down and then up again, with the reserves now being reported as lower. Oil was about US$134.50 bbl.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down 7.6 points at 13,822.32, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up nearly 98 points at 22,733 by lunchtime.
Back here in London, the banks were down again, with Standard Chartered down 49p at 1,520 this morning. The Asian concentrated bank gives a tarding update at 9:30 this morning. Peers also fell, with Barclays down 15p at 316p despite a Morgan Stanley upgrade to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight', an HBOS was down 10p to 282p, which is close to the £4 bln 275p rights issue price.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) was down 50p at 902p, which takes away a chunk of the jump yesterday, after Merrill Lynch reiterated its 'underperform' stance and cut its target to 880, down from 920p. Rumours that the LSE will still do some sort of partnership deal in QWatar were also doing the rounds on the floor. The news about a the pan-European equities platform which is created by the LSE and Lehman Brothers hasn't been taken well, either.
British Sky Broadcasting was down 17p to 478p after a JP Morgan downgrade to 'underweight' from 'overweight' with a 560p target, down from 7-quid, citing advertising revenue concerns.
The miners tried to help thsi morning, though, with metal prices smiling. Anglo smiled too, up 44p at 3,329p, as did Vedanta, up 17p at 2,268, and Anto, up 3.5p at 656.5p. Vedanta also informed of its plans to have a Bond issue to raise US$1.25 bln, so to fund ongoing acquisitions and other business.
With oil still strong, invstors moved in the the oil heavyweights BP was up 6p at 580p, and RD Shell up 21p at 2,005.
Wellstream Holdings, the oil services company, was down 52p at 1,253p on profit taking. The tarding statement was good, but the share price has risen three-fold in the last year, so investors felt they should bag some profits.
DSG International, who own Currys and PC World, was up 2.5p at 47.5p after reporting a 30% decline in its 12 month profit figure, adding it was "cautious" moving forward. However, as most of th wbad news seems to already be in the price, Numis thought things could only get better and upgraded DSG to 'hold' from 'reduce'.
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Market Wrap, Wednesday 25th June 2008
The FTSE 100 closed up 31.4 points today at 5,666.1, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 128.9 points at 9,321.2. Quite a good day.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up about 70 points at 11,878, whilst the S&P500 was up 13 points at 1,327, and the Nasdaq up nearly 40 points at 2,408. The Feds are expected to keep interest rates at 2%, which we should hear later on. Durable good s figures stayed the same, but new home sales over there were down 2.5% with an average price down 5.7% from last year at US$231k.
Oil was down about 3-bucks to US$134 bbl, helped by the US stock pile reserves were up. This helped the oil users.
Here in London the banks did well on the stregnth of the Barclays news, and also, as mentioned above, the oil users were up.
Barclays closed up 20.25p at 331p after confirming that there would be Qatari investment of some £4.5 bln, which was received well by all. This helped peers, with HBOS up 17.25p at 292p, RBS up 10p at 229.25p, Standard Chartered up 76p at 1,569, and Alliance & Leicester received a Morgan Stanley upgarde to 'equal-weight' from 'underweight' and closed up nearly 8p at 323.25p.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) had a decent day, up over 14% from yesterday to close at 952p, up 117.5p on the day. It seems that the news that the LSE had been pipped by NYSE Euronext for the Qatari deal wasn't so bad news after all.
On to food retail, Sainsburys closed up 13.25p at 328p after saying the Qatar investment authority had upoped its holding to over 25%, with 7m shares bought over the last 2 days. Also note that the Qataris had tried a buyout last year at 6-quid a pop, so with the current price where it is they are obviously stock building.
The miners didn't fair as well, though, with metal prices falling, ENRC closed down 70p at 1,342, Xstrata down 167p at 3,986, Rio down 150p at 5,860, BHP down 61p at 1,850, Lonmin down 61p at 3,067, and Anglo down 141p at 3,285 after news that it will bid for a major Zimbabwe mining outfit.
Mitchells & Butlers closed up nearly 18p at 221.5p, and JD Wetherspoon up 2.25p at just shy of 212p after both received an upgrade from Goldman Sachs to 'neutral' from 'sell'.
Stagecoach closed down 14p at 264.5p after some profit taking after a decent set of results last week caused a healthy rise since.
United Utilities closed down 31.5p at 690.5p after going ex-dividend.
Rentokil closed down 3.25p at 102p after a UBS downgrade to 'neutral' from 'buy' citing fundamental valuation.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up about 70 points at 11,878, whilst the S&P500 was up 13 points at 1,327, and the Nasdaq up nearly 40 points at 2,408. The Feds are expected to keep interest rates at 2%, which we should hear later on. Durable good s figures stayed the same, but new home sales over there were down 2.5% with an average price down 5.7% from last year at US$231k.
Oil was down about 3-bucks to US$134 bbl, helped by the US stock pile reserves were up. This helped the oil users.
Here in London the banks did well on the stregnth of the Barclays news, and also, as mentioned above, the oil users were up.
Barclays closed up 20.25p at 331p after confirming that there would be Qatari investment of some £4.5 bln, which was received well by all. This helped peers, with HBOS up 17.25p at 292p, RBS up 10p at 229.25p, Standard Chartered up 76p at 1,569, and Alliance & Leicester received a Morgan Stanley upgarde to 'equal-weight' from 'underweight' and closed up nearly 8p at 323.25p.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) had a decent day, up over 14% from yesterday to close at 952p, up 117.5p on the day. It seems that the news that the LSE had been pipped by NYSE Euronext for the Qatari deal wasn't so bad news after all.
On to food retail, Sainsburys closed up 13.25p at 328p after saying the Qatar investment authority had upoped its holding to over 25%, with 7m shares bought over the last 2 days. Also note that the Qataris had tried a buyout last year at 6-quid a pop, so with the current price where it is they are obviously stock building.
The miners didn't fair as well, though, with metal prices falling, ENRC closed down 70p at 1,342, Xstrata down 167p at 3,986, Rio down 150p at 5,860, BHP down 61p at 1,850, Lonmin down 61p at 3,067, and Anglo down 141p at 3,285 after news that it will bid for a major Zimbabwe mining outfit.
Mitchells & Butlers closed up nearly 18p at 221.5p, and JD Wetherspoon up 2.25p at just shy of 212p after both received an upgrade from Goldman Sachs to 'neutral' from 'sell'.
Stagecoach closed down 14p at 264.5p after some profit taking after a decent set of results last week caused a healthy rise since.
United Utilities closed down 31.5p at 690.5p after going ex-dividend.
Rentokil closed down 3.25p at 102p after a UBS downgrade to 'neutral' from 'buy' citing fundamental valuation.
Morning Market, Wednesday 25th June 2008
The FTSE was up about 30 points this morning, trading at 5,665, whilst the FTSE 250 was up 40 points at 9,232.
Over the pond last night the DJI closed down almost 35 points down at 11,807.43, whilst the S&P 500 down nearly 4 points at 1,314.29, and the Nasdaq down about 17.5 points at 2,368.28. Poor house prices affected the US June consumer confidence index (CCI). The Fed Reserve will let us all know later today what's happening with interest rates, but we expect it to remain at 2%.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down nearly 20 points at 13,829.92, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was actually up about 275 points at 22,700 by lunchtime chow time. The Hang Seng actually closed for a period due to a tropical storm named Fengshen.
Back here in London, the banks were looking good. Barclays was up 18p at 329p, which is 6% up from yesterday's close, as news that the bank will raise £4.5 bln from Qatar. Peers liked the news, with HBOS up 10p at 285p, RBS up 7p at 226p, Lloyds TSB up 4p at 330p, Bradford & Bingley up 4.5p at 82p, and Alliance & Leicester up 9p to 323p.
The price of the black stuff helped the oil heavyweights, with BP up 11p at 582p after a Morgan Stanley upgarde to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight' with a target of 750p from 705p, RD Shell up 31p at 2,029p, and Tullow Oil up 25p at 984p.
The miners fell back, though, as metal prices retreated. BHP was down 35p 1,875, Rio down a quid at 5,910, Kazakhmys down 23p to 1,582, Anglo down 58p at 3,364p, and Anto down 7p at 649p.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) was down another 3p at 829p after NYSE Euronext moved in on the Qatari US$250m stockmarket deal that the LSE had hoped to secure a position in.
Pubs group Punch Taverns was up nearly 20p at 338p after bringing forward its tarding update so to reassure investors. Sector peers also bounced, with Mitchell & Butlers up 9p at 213p, and Wetherspoons up 10p at 219.5p, ith the latter two helped by a Goldman Sachs upgrade.
Rentokil was down 1.5p at 103.5p after a UBS downgrade to 'neutral' from 'buy' citing fundamental valuation.
Stagecoach was down 12p at 266p after some profit taking after their recent decetn results had caused a lift.
Over the pond last night the DJI closed down almost 35 points down at 11,807.43, whilst the S&P 500 down nearly 4 points at 1,314.29, and the Nasdaq down about 17.5 points at 2,368.28. Poor house prices affected the US June consumer confidence index (CCI). The Fed Reserve will let us all know later today what's happening with interest rates, but we expect it to remain at 2%.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down nearly 20 points at 13,829.92, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was actually up about 275 points at 22,700 by lunchtime chow time. The Hang Seng actually closed for a period due to a tropical storm named Fengshen.
Back here in London, the banks were looking good. Barclays was up 18p at 329p, which is 6% up from yesterday's close, as news that the bank will raise £4.5 bln from Qatar. Peers liked the news, with HBOS up 10p at 285p, RBS up 7p at 226p, Lloyds TSB up 4p at 330p, Bradford & Bingley up 4.5p at 82p, and Alliance & Leicester up 9p to 323p.
The price of the black stuff helped the oil heavyweights, with BP up 11p at 582p after a Morgan Stanley upgarde to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight' with a target of 750p from 705p, RD Shell up 31p at 2,029p, and Tullow Oil up 25p at 984p.
The miners fell back, though, as metal prices retreated. BHP was down 35p 1,875, Rio down a quid at 5,910, Kazakhmys down 23p to 1,582, Anglo down 58p at 3,364p, and Anto down 7p at 649p.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) was down another 3p at 829p after NYSE Euronext moved in on the Qatari US$250m stockmarket deal that the LSE had hoped to secure a position in.
Pubs group Punch Taverns was up nearly 20p at 338p after bringing forward its tarding update so to reassure investors. Sector peers also bounced, with Mitchell & Butlers up 9p at 213p, and Wetherspoons up 10p at 219.5p, ith the latter two helped by a Goldman Sachs upgrade.
Rentokil was down 1.5p at 103.5p after a UBS downgrade to 'neutral' from 'buy' citing fundamental valuation.
Stagecoach was down 12p at 266p after some profit taking after their recent decetn results had caused a lift.
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Market Wrap, Tuesday 24th June 2008
The FTSE closed down 32.5 points at 5,634.7 today, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 128.3 points at 9,192.3.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 9 points at 11,833, whilst the S&P500 was down 2 points at 1,316, and the Nasdaq down nearly 13 points at 2,373. The bigger broker banks all having a good start in the US, although the resyt of the market held it back.
Back here in London, news that mortgage completions was down 56% was taken badly. This is the worst they have been for 10 years, and things don't look like getting better.
This all affected the related sectors, with property giant Liberty Intnl clsoing down 27p at 854p, hampered by a Citigroup downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold', Land Securities down 15p at 1,260.5, also hampered by a Citigroup taraget down to 1,450 from 16-quid.
With oil strong again, the users felt the pain. Airline British Airways closed down 1.25p at 211p, cruise ship operator down 28p at 1,666.5.
On to the market, literally, where the London Stock xchange (LSE:LSE) closed down 34.5p at 834.5p as it was rumoured that the proposed control deal of the Qatari market faded. It is now apparent that NYSE Euronext will gain a 25% stake for the Doha Securities Market for US$250m.
On to banks, where news that Resolution may be inputting £400m in to Bradfortd& Bingley was taken well. This will take the place of the TPG offer and the planned rights issue by the mortgage bank. B&B closed up over 11p, or 17%, at 77.25p. Peers all liked the news, with HBOS up 4.5p at just shy of 275p, which just happens to be the rights issue price, RBS up nearly 5p to close at 219.25p, Lloyds TSB up 7p at just shy of 326p, and Barclays up 11p to just shy of 311p.
On to mining, where Rio closed up 36p at 6,010 after news that it has secured a deal that it will sell its iron ore for 85% more than it was from 1st April this year. This is better than expected and also what its peers managed. Anto closed up 11p at 656p after a Credit Suisse upgrade to 'outperform' from 'neutral'. Not all miners did well, though, with Xstrata closing down 128p at 4,153 after rumours it may bid for Aquarius Platinum. Aquarius closed up 10.5p at just shy of 828p.
Petrofac closed down 11p at 726.25p after a mediocre trading update which caused profit taking.
On to travel, where Thomas Cook closed up 7.25p at 241.5p after confirming full year targets and that it had lowered its 1st half losses by 15%. Peer TUI Travel closed up 2.5p at 208.25p in reaction.
The housebuilders were down again, reacting to the mortgage deal news. Taylor Wimpey closed down 7.5p at 57.25p, Persimmons down 17.25p at just shy of 338p, Bovis Homes down nearly 20p at just shy of 340p, and Barratts down 9p to close at just shy of 75p.
Kesa Electricals fell nearly 17p to 157.5p after warning of a tough year ahead, prompting broker downgrade to 'sell', whilst peer DSG Intnl closed down 4.5p to just shy of 42p as a reaction.
Punch Taverns closed down nearly 20p to 318.25p after a downbeat trading update.
On to the High Street, where Debenhams closed upo 2.5p at just shy of 45p after its trading update, that was announced early, so to reassure investors all wasn't so bad.
Domino's Pizza closed down 30p at 186p aftre news that Stephen Hemsley, the executive chairman, had offloaded 1m shares at 180p.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 9 points at 11,833, whilst the S&P500 was down 2 points at 1,316, and the Nasdaq down nearly 13 points at 2,373. The bigger broker banks all having a good start in the US, although the resyt of the market held it back.
Back here in London, news that mortgage completions was down 56% was taken badly. This is the worst they have been for 10 years, and things don't look like getting better.
This all affected the related sectors, with property giant Liberty Intnl clsoing down 27p at 854p, hampered by a Citigroup downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold', Land Securities down 15p at 1,260.5, also hampered by a Citigroup taraget down to 1,450 from 16-quid.
With oil strong again, the users felt the pain. Airline British Airways closed down 1.25p at 211p, cruise ship operator down 28p at 1,666.5.
On to the market, literally, where the London Stock xchange (LSE:LSE) closed down 34.5p at 834.5p as it was rumoured that the proposed control deal of the Qatari market faded. It is now apparent that NYSE Euronext will gain a 25% stake for the Doha Securities Market for US$250m.
On to banks, where news that Resolution may be inputting £400m in to Bradfortd& Bingley was taken well. This will take the place of the TPG offer and the planned rights issue by the mortgage bank. B&B closed up over 11p, or 17%, at 77.25p. Peers all liked the news, with HBOS up 4.5p at just shy of 275p, which just happens to be the rights issue price, RBS up nearly 5p to close at 219.25p, Lloyds TSB up 7p at just shy of 326p, and Barclays up 11p to just shy of 311p.
On to mining, where Rio closed up 36p at 6,010 after news that it has secured a deal that it will sell its iron ore for 85% more than it was from 1st April this year. This is better than expected and also what its peers managed. Anto closed up 11p at 656p after a Credit Suisse upgrade to 'outperform' from 'neutral'. Not all miners did well, though, with Xstrata closing down 128p at 4,153 after rumours it may bid for Aquarius Platinum. Aquarius closed up 10.5p at just shy of 828p.
Petrofac closed down 11p at 726.25p after a mediocre trading update which caused profit taking.
On to travel, where Thomas Cook closed up 7.25p at 241.5p after confirming full year targets and that it had lowered its 1st half losses by 15%. Peer TUI Travel closed up 2.5p at 208.25p in reaction.
The housebuilders were down again, reacting to the mortgage deal news. Taylor Wimpey closed down 7.5p at 57.25p, Persimmons down 17.25p at just shy of 338p, Bovis Homes down nearly 20p at just shy of 340p, and Barratts down 9p to close at just shy of 75p.
Kesa Electricals fell nearly 17p to 157.5p after warning of a tough year ahead, prompting broker downgrade to 'sell', whilst peer DSG Intnl closed down 4.5p to just shy of 42p as a reaction.
Punch Taverns closed down nearly 20p to 318.25p after a downbeat trading update.
On to the High Street, where Debenhams closed upo 2.5p at just shy of 45p after its trading update, that was announced early, so to reassure investors all wasn't so bad.
Domino's Pizza closed down 30p at 186p aftre news that Stephen Hemsley, the executive chairman, had offloaded 1m shares at 180p.
Morning Market, Tuesday 24th June 2008
The FTSE was up about 15 points this monring at 5,682, whilst the FTSE 250 was up 14 points at 9,334.
Over the pond last night, the DJI closed slightly down , just 0.33 points, at 11,842.36, whilst the S&P500 was very slightly up, just 0.07 points, at 1,318, and the Nasdaq down over 20 points at 2,385.74. There wasn't much action ahead of the Fed Res meeting that is later today.
In the Far East today, the Nikkei 225 closed down nearly 8 points at 13,849.56, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down about 116 points at 22,599 by lunchtime.
Back here in London, it was the miners in the news.
News that Rio Tinto has agreed an 85% increase in iron ore prices for the contract that strated on 1st April this year was received well, with the share price jumping 135 points to 6,109. This was better than the 70% that was expected, and beats what competitors had gained. Peers all liked the news, with Anto up 24p at 669p, also helped by a Credit Suisse upgrade to 'outperform' from 'neutral', BHP Billiton was up 38p at 1,946p, and Vedanta up 39p at 2,333p.
On to travel, where Thomas Cook was up 10p at 244p after announcing a 15% reduction in its 1st half losses and reaffirmed its full-year targets. It also said Ludger Heuberg, the chief financial officer, is standing down for personal reasons. Peer TUI Travel was up 5p to 211p in reaction.
On to the banks, where the news that Resolution is apparently consiudering a £400m inoput into Bradford & Bingley was received well. This would TPG's offer as well as the group's rights issue. As a reaction, B&B was up 8p at 74p, whilsyt peers also liked the news, with Barclays up 3p at 302.75p, HBOS up 6p at 276.25p, and RBS up 3.5p at 218p.
On to property, where it wasn't so good. Liberty International was down 25p at 854p after a Citigroup downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold' citing a loss of confidence in the whole sector by investors. Peers were also down, with Hammersons off 3p to 899p, and Land Securities down 8p to 1,267.
Petrofac was down 5p at 732.5p after a disappointing trading update.
Debenhams was up 8p to 74p after it brought forward its trading statement so to reassure shareholders all wasn';t so bad. It said that sales were down 0.6% for the 42 weeks to 21st June, but 1% up over the past 10 weeks since its last update. Other retailers also did well, with Marks & Sparks up 5p at 344.5p, Next up 25p at 1,020, and Kingfisher up 2p at 116.4.
DSG International was up 2p at 48.5p, ahead of announcoing its figures this week, whilst Kesa Electrical was down 2.5p at 172p after announcing a 3.1% increase in pre-tax profit but said that consumer confidence is continuing to fall. A Panmure Gordon downgrade to 'sell' from 'buy' followed.
Ashtead Group was up 3p at 74.5p after reporting a 51% increase in full-year pre-tax profit and higher revenue.
RPS Group was up 12p at 309p after saying in a statement that it reckons it will have some excellent 1st half results to give out.
Over the pond last night, the DJI closed slightly down , just 0.33 points, at 11,842.36, whilst the S&P500 was very slightly up, just 0.07 points, at 1,318, and the Nasdaq down over 20 points at 2,385.74. There wasn't much action ahead of the Fed Res meeting that is later today.
In the Far East today, the Nikkei 225 closed down nearly 8 points at 13,849.56, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down about 116 points at 22,599 by lunchtime.
Back here in London, it was the miners in the news.
News that Rio Tinto has agreed an 85% increase in iron ore prices for the contract that strated on 1st April this year was received well, with the share price jumping 135 points to 6,109. This was better than the 70% that was expected, and beats what competitors had gained. Peers all liked the news, with Anto up 24p at 669p, also helped by a Credit Suisse upgrade to 'outperform' from 'neutral', BHP Billiton was up 38p at 1,946p, and Vedanta up 39p at 2,333p.
On to travel, where Thomas Cook was up 10p at 244p after announcing a 15% reduction in its 1st half losses and reaffirmed its full-year targets. It also said Ludger Heuberg, the chief financial officer, is standing down for personal reasons. Peer TUI Travel was up 5p to 211p in reaction.
On to the banks, where the news that Resolution is apparently consiudering a £400m inoput into Bradford & Bingley was received well. This would TPG's offer as well as the group's rights issue. As a reaction, B&B was up 8p at 74p, whilsyt peers also liked the news, with Barclays up 3p at 302.75p, HBOS up 6p at 276.25p, and RBS up 3.5p at 218p.
On to property, where it wasn't so good. Liberty International was down 25p at 854p after a Citigroup downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold' citing a loss of confidence in the whole sector by investors. Peers were also down, with Hammersons off 3p to 899p, and Land Securities down 8p to 1,267.
Petrofac was down 5p at 732.5p after a disappointing trading update.
Debenhams was up 8p to 74p after it brought forward its trading statement so to reassure shareholders all wasn';t so bad. It said that sales were down 0.6% for the 42 weeks to 21st June, but 1% up over the past 10 weeks since its last update. Other retailers also did well, with Marks & Sparks up 5p at 344.5p, Next up 25p at 1,020, and Kingfisher up 2p at 116.4.
DSG International was up 2p at 48.5p, ahead of announcoing its figures this week, whilst Kesa Electrical was down 2.5p at 172p after announcing a 3.1% increase in pre-tax profit but said that consumer confidence is continuing to fall. A Panmure Gordon downgrade to 'sell' from 'buy' followed.
Ashtead Group was up 3p at 74.5p after reporting a 51% increase in full-year pre-tax profit and higher revenue.
RPS Group was up 12p at 309p after saying in a statement that it reckons it will have some excellent 1st half results to give out.
Monday, 23 June 2008
Market Wrap, Monday 23rd June 2008
The FTSE closed up 46.4 points today at 5,667.2, which was up about 64 points from its low and down about 11 points from its high of the day. The FTSE 250 closed down 40.5 points at 9,320.6.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down nearly 11 points at 11,832, whilst the S&P500 was down a point at 1,317, and the Nasdaq down about 15.5 points at 2,390.5. Higher oil prices were blamed, as well as news that Citigroup was to be cutting some of its workforce due to market conditions. Oh, and Goldman Sachs said that it 'has doubts about the health of the financial sector'. Trying not to sounbd too sarcastic, 'why not state the obvious?'.
Back here in London, despite the strife elsewhere, the mining stocks helped the FTSE today, as did the oil heavyweights. With the FTSE weighted towards the oil stocks too, the gain in the FTSE 100 was really down to these guys. Oil was up at US$136 bbl after the Nigerian's pipeline saboutage incident, which caused some concern on supply. The Nigerians will be producing something like 250k bbl per day less until the pipeline is repaired. Saudi may be expected to cough up some more. BP closed up 10.25p at just shy of 575p, whilst RD SHell closed up 36p at 1,946, BG Group up 29p at 1,260p, Cairn Energy up 55p at 3,201, Tullow Oil up 32p at 985p, and JKX Oil & Gas closed up 10p at just shy of 457p after a Goldman Sachs upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral', with a target of 569p, up 98p.
On to the miners, where ENRC closed up 31p at 1,483p, Anglo up 15p at 3,450p, and Xstrata up 83p at 4,281.
On to pharmas, where Glaxo closed up 22.5p at 1,121.5, Astrazeneca up 65p at 2,157, and Shire Pharma closed up 45.5p at 842.5p after a Goldman Sachs upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral',
On to land, where there were some casualties. Land Securities closed down 64p at 1,275p after a HSBC downgrade to 'underweight' from 'neutral' at HSBC, who said that the whole sector was due for a 30% drop in share prices, well, Liberty & Hammersons, anyway. HSBC also cut its target by a quid to 325p on Segro who closed down 21.5p at 373.5p. Liberty Intnl closed down 23.5p at 881p, Hammersons closed down 13.5p at 902.5p, and Segro closed down 21.5p at 373.5p.
On to the banks, where further pressure was being felt. HBOS closed down 12p to 270.25p after news that US hedge fund manager Harbinger Capital disclosed its HSBC short position (probably trying to help them lower, he says, tongue-in-cheek), whilst Lloyds TSB closed down nealry 9p at just shy of 319p after weekend press reports that said the bank was sniffing with intent to bid for Allianz SE's Dresdner Bank business. German press actually rpeorted that the bank had already stuck in an informal bid, so to tesat the water.
Compass Group had a good day after SG Securities gave it a 'buy' rating and 415p target, helping the caterer close up 11.25p at 369.5p.
Weir Group closed up 23.5p at 941.5p after some decent forecatss for the year, proimpting Numis Securities to up its target to 1,020p from 966p.
Cattles closed up 8.25p at 145.5p after Shore Capital reiterated its 'buy' stance on the group.
Aggreko closed up 64.5p at 709p after a decent trading update giving Panmure Gordon reason to raise its stance to 'buy' from 'hold'.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down nearly 11 points at 11,832, whilst the S&P500 was down a point at 1,317, and the Nasdaq down about 15.5 points at 2,390.5. Higher oil prices were blamed, as well as news that Citigroup was to be cutting some of its workforce due to market conditions. Oh, and Goldman Sachs said that it 'has doubts about the health of the financial sector'. Trying not to sounbd too sarcastic, 'why not state the obvious?'.
Back here in London, despite the strife elsewhere, the mining stocks helped the FTSE today, as did the oil heavyweights. With the FTSE weighted towards the oil stocks too, the gain in the FTSE 100 was really down to these guys. Oil was up at US$136 bbl after the Nigerian's pipeline saboutage incident, which caused some concern on supply. The Nigerians will be producing something like 250k bbl per day less until the pipeline is repaired. Saudi may be expected to cough up some more. BP closed up 10.25p at just shy of 575p, whilst RD SHell closed up 36p at 1,946, BG Group up 29p at 1,260p, Cairn Energy up 55p at 3,201, Tullow Oil up 32p at 985p, and JKX Oil & Gas closed up 10p at just shy of 457p after a Goldman Sachs upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral', with a target of 569p, up 98p.
On to the miners, where ENRC closed up 31p at 1,483p, Anglo up 15p at 3,450p, and Xstrata up 83p at 4,281.
On to pharmas, where Glaxo closed up 22.5p at 1,121.5, Astrazeneca up 65p at 2,157, and Shire Pharma closed up 45.5p at 842.5p after a Goldman Sachs upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral',
On to land, where there were some casualties. Land Securities closed down 64p at 1,275p after a HSBC downgrade to 'underweight' from 'neutral' at HSBC, who said that the whole sector was due for a 30% drop in share prices, well, Liberty & Hammersons, anyway. HSBC also cut its target by a quid to 325p on Segro who closed down 21.5p at 373.5p. Liberty Intnl closed down 23.5p at 881p, Hammersons closed down 13.5p at 902.5p, and Segro closed down 21.5p at 373.5p.
On to the banks, where further pressure was being felt. HBOS closed down 12p to 270.25p after news that US hedge fund manager Harbinger Capital disclosed its HSBC short position (probably trying to help them lower, he says, tongue-in-cheek), whilst Lloyds TSB closed down nealry 9p at just shy of 319p after weekend press reports that said the bank was sniffing with intent to bid for Allianz SE's Dresdner Bank business. German press actually rpeorted that the bank had already stuck in an informal bid, so to tesat the water.
Compass Group had a good day after SG Securities gave it a 'buy' rating and 415p target, helping the caterer close up 11.25p at 369.5p.
Weir Group closed up 23.5p at 941.5p after some decent forecatss for the year, proimpting Numis Securities to up its target to 1,020p from 966p.
Cattles closed up 8.25p at 145.5p after Shore Capital reiterated its 'buy' stance on the group.
Aggreko closed up 64.5p at 709p after a decent trading update giving Panmure Gordon reason to raise its stance to 'buy' from 'hold'.
Morning Market, Monday 23rd June 2008
The FTSE was up this morning, trading at 5,670, up 49 points so far. The FTSE 250 was up 18 points at 9,379.
On Friday over the pond, the DJI closed down over 220 points at 11,842.7, whilst the S&P500 closed down almost 25 points at 1,317.93, and the Nasdaq down almost 56 points at 2,406.09.
In the Far East today, the Nikkei 225 closed down 84.61 points at 13,857.47, and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up over 20 points at 22,766 by lunchtime chow.
Back here in London, the news that house prices fell by 1.2% this month compared to May didn't help feeling, but oil and miners helped the market.
Also today was the quarterly reshuffle of the FTSE 100. Those who got hoofed out were: Bank - Alliance & Leicester, Housebuilder - Persimmon, Retail Group & Argos owner - Home Retail Group, and Sugar King & Food Ingredients firm - Tate & Lyle. Those entering the 'top' 100 were: Software firm - Invensys, Mining group - Ferrexpo, Oil services provider - Petrofac, and Power Station operator - Drax.
Despite Friday's close, the oilers helped the index up this morning. Over the weekend news that a Nigerian oil pipeline had been blown up, which will reduce Nigerian output by about 260k bbl per day, about the same as Saudi had said they'd be upping it by. The oil price was up, with light sweet (Aug del) up nearly a buck at US$136.25 bbl, which is about 2-bucks higher than Friday's close. Oil heavyweights liked all this, with BP up 4p to 568.5p, RD Shell up 12p to 1,922, Cairn Energy up 51p to 3,197 and BG Group up 19p to 1,250.
As we said above, the miners were stronger too. ENRC was up 41p ahead at 1,493, Kazakhmys up 24p higher at 1,654, BHP up 24p to 1,911, and Xstrata up 29p at 4,227.
On to banks, where rumours in the weekend press that Lloyds TSB Group is sniffing with intent on a takeover of Allianz SE's Dresdner Bank business for about #6 bln, apparently. Lloyds TSB was down 2.5p to 325 this morning, whilst its peers were doing better. Barclays was up 2p to 310p, RBS up 3.5p to 223p, and HSBC up 7p at 805p.
Property was under pressure again this morning, with Land Securities down 26p at 1,311p after another HSBC downgrade to 'underweight' from 'neutral'. Peers pulled back too, with British Land down 12p at 753p, Liberty International down 5p to 899, Hammersons down a penny to 915p, Great Portland Estates up 7p to 362.5p, and Shaftesbury up 6p to 417p.
On to the pharmas, where Shire had a decent first hour, up nearly 30p at 826p after a Goldman Sachs upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral', keeping their 1,015p target.
In to the High Street, where Debenhams was down 2.25p to 41.75p after weekend press reports that the department store group is paying suppliers on 96days due to current trading conditions.
Aggreko was up 50p at 694p after the group's "strong" trading update in which the temporary temperature control and power rental company said it expects its first-half pretax profit to be about 40% higher than last year and lifted its full year forecasts. Altium Securtities reiterated its 'buy' stance.
Energy Services Provider Expro International was down 50p at 1,627 after saying it has rejected the increased Halliburton offer of 1,625p per share as it wasn't in the Expro shareholders' best interests.
Filtrona was up 8p at 149p and JKX Oil & Gas up 20p to 466.5p after decent broker comments.
Mining supplier Weir Group was up 13p at 931 after saying its profit for the year will be substantially ahead of 2007 and is expected to be at the upper end of current market estimates for this year.
On Friday over the pond, the DJI closed down over 220 points at 11,842.7, whilst the S&P500 closed down almost 25 points at 1,317.93, and the Nasdaq down almost 56 points at 2,406.09.
In the Far East today, the Nikkei 225 closed down 84.61 points at 13,857.47, and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up over 20 points at 22,766 by lunchtime chow.
Back here in London, the news that house prices fell by 1.2% this month compared to May didn't help feeling, but oil and miners helped the market.
Also today was the quarterly reshuffle of the FTSE 100. Those who got hoofed out were: Bank - Alliance & Leicester, Housebuilder - Persimmon, Retail Group & Argos owner - Home Retail Group, and Sugar King & Food Ingredients firm - Tate & Lyle. Those entering the 'top' 100 were: Software firm - Invensys, Mining group - Ferrexpo, Oil services provider - Petrofac, and Power Station operator - Drax.
Despite Friday's close, the oilers helped the index up this morning. Over the weekend news that a Nigerian oil pipeline had been blown up, which will reduce Nigerian output by about 260k bbl per day, about the same as Saudi had said they'd be upping it by. The oil price was up, with light sweet (Aug del) up nearly a buck at US$136.25 bbl, which is about 2-bucks higher than Friday's close. Oil heavyweights liked all this, with BP up 4p to 568.5p, RD Shell up 12p to 1,922, Cairn Energy up 51p to 3,197 and BG Group up 19p to 1,250.
As we said above, the miners were stronger too. ENRC was up 41p ahead at 1,493, Kazakhmys up 24p higher at 1,654, BHP up 24p to 1,911, and Xstrata up 29p at 4,227.
On to banks, where rumours in the weekend press that Lloyds TSB Group is sniffing with intent on a takeover of Allianz SE's Dresdner Bank business for about #6 bln, apparently. Lloyds TSB was down 2.5p to 325 this morning, whilst its peers were doing better. Barclays was up 2p to 310p, RBS up 3.5p to 223p, and HSBC up 7p at 805p.
Property was under pressure again this morning, with Land Securities down 26p at 1,311p after another HSBC downgrade to 'underweight' from 'neutral'. Peers pulled back too, with British Land down 12p at 753p, Liberty International down 5p to 899, Hammersons down a penny to 915p, Great Portland Estates up 7p to 362.5p, and Shaftesbury up 6p to 417p.
On to the pharmas, where Shire had a decent first hour, up nearly 30p at 826p after a Goldman Sachs upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral', keeping their 1,015p target.
In to the High Street, where Debenhams was down 2.25p to 41.75p after weekend press reports that the department store group is paying suppliers on 96days due to current trading conditions.
Aggreko was up 50p at 694p after the group's "strong" trading update in which the temporary temperature control and power rental company said it expects its first-half pretax profit to be about 40% higher than last year and lifted its full year forecasts. Altium Securtities reiterated its 'buy' stance.
Energy Services Provider Expro International was down 50p at 1,627 after saying it has rejected the increased Halliburton offer of 1,625p per share as it wasn't in the Expro shareholders' best interests.
Filtrona was up 8p at 149p and JKX Oil & Gas up 20p to 466.5p after decent broker comments.
Mining supplier Weir Group was up 13p at 931 after saying its profit for the year will be substantially ahead of 2007 and is expected to be at the upper end of current market estimates for this year.
Friday, 20 June 2008
Market Wrap, Friday 20th June 2008
The FTSE closed down 87.6 points today at 5,620.8, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 85.5 points at 9,361.1. Once New York opened the FTSE was pulled down with it.
By the time London closed the DJI was down nearly 130 points at 11,934, whilst the S&P500 was down 15 points at 1,328 and the Nasdaq down 42 points at 2,420. There were rumours of a profit warning from Merrill Lynch doingt he rounds too. Moody were rerating the odd bank too, with Ambac down and also insurance giant MBIA, who were down 5 rungs to a A2, from triple-A.
Aftyer oil's five-bucks fall yesterday, it bounced $3 today. We can't keep up with it, but we do like it volatile. Follow those rules and wait for the breaks. Those of you in the Live Room at Market Bytes have had a good time. There is a big meeting with some heavyweight producers in Jeddah at the weekend, with the current levels of a barrel of the stuff obviously being the subject of discussion. This was taken as positive by the market, with the 3-buck rise today.
Back here in London, the banks didn't fair as well. HBOS gave a poor update yetserday, and this carried over to trading today, with the bank closing down 14.5p at 282.25. Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers lowered their target for HBOS too. Peers fell as well, with RBS down 5.5p at 219.25p, Lloyds TSB down 4.5p at 327.5p, and Barclays down 7.5p at 308.25p after denyying the reports that Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp has arrived on its shining white horse to weigh in with nearly US$1 bln in to the UK bank.
Wolseley, the plumbing group, closed down nearly 25p to 445.5 after a Morgan Stanley downgrade to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight', and a target down to 380p from 530p. A few reasons were blamed, mainly the Nordic business and US house price squeeze, but then the FT added fuel by suggesting that Wolseley may have to call a rights issue.
On to the miners, where Antofagasta did well, up 30p to 665 as metal prices rose. When banks and financials are under pressure, the commodities seem a safer haven. for sure. Anto also received a Merrill Lynch upgrade to 'neutral' from 'underperform', which helped, as did the announcement that Anto's Minera Esperanza project received environmental approval in Chile. Peers liked all this, with Vedanta Resources up 27p at 2,321. Not all was good though, as Anglo American closed down 83p to 3,435 after Brazil's Vale now said it isn't in talks to buy anyone, which quashed the assumption that Anglo American was the main target.
Carrying on from this morning, the housebuilders were seen as cheap, with the bottom-feeders gathering stock. Persimmon closed up 6p at 370.5, whilst Barratts closed up 9.5p at just shy of 88p after Landsbanki repeated its 'buy' stance, and others liked that too, with Bellway up 48p to 524, Redrow up 4p at 158.25p, Taylor Wimpey up over 3p to just shy of 70p, and Bovis Homes up nearly 26p at 371.5p.
By the time London closed the DJI was down nearly 130 points at 11,934, whilst the S&P500 was down 15 points at 1,328 and the Nasdaq down 42 points at 2,420. There were rumours of a profit warning from Merrill Lynch doingt he rounds too. Moody were rerating the odd bank too, with Ambac down and also insurance giant MBIA, who were down 5 rungs to a A2, from triple-A.
Aftyer oil's five-bucks fall yesterday, it bounced $3 today. We can't keep up with it, but we do like it volatile. Follow those rules and wait for the breaks. Those of you in the Live Room at Market Bytes have had a good time. There is a big meeting with some heavyweight producers in Jeddah at the weekend, with the current levels of a barrel of the stuff obviously being the subject of discussion. This was taken as positive by the market, with the 3-buck rise today.
Back here in London, the banks didn't fair as well. HBOS gave a poor update yetserday, and this carried over to trading today, with the bank closing down 14.5p at 282.25. Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers lowered their target for HBOS too. Peers fell as well, with RBS down 5.5p at 219.25p, Lloyds TSB down 4.5p at 327.5p, and Barclays down 7.5p at 308.25p after denyying the reports that Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp has arrived on its shining white horse to weigh in with nearly US$1 bln in to the UK bank.
Wolseley, the plumbing group, closed down nearly 25p to 445.5 after a Morgan Stanley downgrade to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight', and a target down to 380p from 530p. A few reasons were blamed, mainly the Nordic business and US house price squeeze, but then the FT added fuel by suggesting that Wolseley may have to call a rights issue.
On to the miners, where Antofagasta did well, up 30p to 665 as metal prices rose. When banks and financials are under pressure, the commodities seem a safer haven. for sure. Anto also received a Merrill Lynch upgrade to 'neutral' from 'underperform', which helped, as did the announcement that Anto's Minera Esperanza project received environmental approval in Chile. Peers liked all this, with Vedanta Resources up 27p at 2,321. Not all was good though, as Anglo American closed down 83p to 3,435 after Brazil's Vale now said it isn't in talks to buy anyone, which quashed the assumption that Anglo American was the main target.
Carrying on from this morning, the housebuilders were seen as cheap, with the bottom-feeders gathering stock. Persimmon closed up 6p at 370.5, whilst Barratts closed up 9.5p at just shy of 88p after Landsbanki repeated its 'buy' stance, and others liked that too, with Bellway up 48p to 524, Redrow up 4p at 158.25p, Taylor Wimpey up over 3p to just shy of 70p, and Bovis Homes up nearly 26p at 371.5p.
Morning Market, Friday 20th June 2008
The FTSE was down about 10 points this morning at 5,698, whilst the FTSE 250 was down 20 points at 9,426. It had opened more positive than that, but fell back soon after the Far East fell down.
last night over the pond, the DJI closed up just over 34 points at 12,063.09, whilst the S&P500 closed up 5.02 points at 1,342.83, and the Nasdaq up 32.35 points at 2,426.06. With the price of oil falling back and concerns that worse news was still to come from the banks. With Goldman sachs update the other day, and Citibank joining in with more warnings, the fact there was anything positive has been a suprise.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down 188.09 points at 13,942.08, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng recently closed at 22,745.6, down 52.01 points.
Staying with Asian trading, oil was down about 5-bucks in a day at US$131.30 bbl after news from China yesterday that they will raising the limits on gasoline and diesel fuel prices. Also, there was the news from Saudi that they will be increasing thier daily oil output by 200k bbl per day.
Back here in London it was the housebuilders that were doing ok this morning, with scavengers and bottom-feeders feeling the sector maybe seems a bit oversold of late. Persimmons was up 21p at 386, whilst Barratts was up 14p pence at 92.5p after Landsbanki reiterated its 'buy' stance, Redrow up 16p at 170p, Taylor Wimpey up 7p at 73.5p, Bellway up 22p at 498p, and Bovis Homes up 16p at 362p.
On to financials, where HBOS received a lower target from Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers and was down 12p at 284p, Barclays down 6p at 310p, RBS down 5p at 220p, Lloyds TSB down 7p at 324p, and Bradoford & Bingley down 4p at 68p. News regarding Barclays also doing the rounds was that Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp is the one moving in wit some cash, with plans to provide a US$926.3m injection in to the UK banks.
On to mining, where Antofagasta was up 16p to 651p after a Merrill Lynch upgarde to 'neutral' from 'underperform', but added that it is cautious on the near term outlook for copper. Peers were also down, with Anglo down 124p at 3,394, BHP down 36p at 1,914p, Xstrata down 86p at 4,172, and Lonmin down 62p at 3,128p.
Plumbing group Wolseley, the plumbing group, was down 22p at 448 after a Morgan Stanley downgrade to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight', and a 380p tagert, down from 530p, blaming a more negative outlook on the Nordic business, lower growth forecasts and high debt. The FT reported there may even be a rights issue planned.
Rightmove fell 11p to 308.5p after a Citigroup downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' due to the deteriorating UK housing market.
G4S was up 6p at 212p after a Morgan Stanley upgarde to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight' and 240p target, up from 225, saying that US growth looks good.
last night over the pond, the DJI closed up just over 34 points at 12,063.09, whilst the S&P500 closed up 5.02 points at 1,342.83, and the Nasdaq up 32.35 points at 2,426.06. With the price of oil falling back and concerns that worse news was still to come from the banks. With Goldman sachs update the other day, and Citibank joining in with more warnings, the fact there was anything positive has been a suprise.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down 188.09 points at 13,942.08, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng recently closed at 22,745.6, down 52.01 points.
Staying with Asian trading, oil was down about 5-bucks in a day at US$131.30 bbl after news from China yesterday that they will raising the limits on gasoline and diesel fuel prices. Also, there was the news from Saudi that they will be increasing thier daily oil output by 200k bbl per day.
Back here in London it was the housebuilders that were doing ok this morning, with scavengers and bottom-feeders feeling the sector maybe seems a bit oversold of late. Persimmons was up 21p at 386, whilst Barratts was up 14p pence at 92.5p after Landsbanki reiterated its 'buy' stance, Redrow up 16p at 170p, Taylor Wimpey up 7p at 73.5p, Bellway up 22p at 498p, and Bovis Homes up 16p at 362p.
On to financials, where HBOS received a lower target from Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers and was down 12p at 284p, Barclays down 6p at 310p, RBS down 5p at 220p, Lloyds TSB down 7p at 324p, and Bradoford & Bingley down 4p at 68p. News regarding Barclays also doing the rounds was that Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp is the one moving in wit some cash, with plans to provide a US$926.3m injection in to the UK banks.
On to mining, where Antofagasta was up 16p to 651p after a Merrill Lynch upgarde to 'neutral' from 'underperform', but added that it is cautious on the near term outlook for copper. Peers were also down, with Anglo down 124p at 3,394, BHP down 36p at 1,914p, Xstrata down 86p at 4,172, and Lonmin down 62p at 3,128p.
Plumbing group Wolseley, the plumbing group, was down 22p at 448 after a Morgan Stanley downgrade to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight', and a 380p tagert, down from 530p, blaming a more negative outlook on the Nordic business, lower growth forecasts and high debt. The FT reported there may even be a rights issue planned.
Rightmove fell 11p to 308.5p after a Citigroup downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' due to the deteriorating UK housing market.
G4S was up 6p at 212p after a Morgan Stanley upgarde to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight' and 240p target, up from 225, saying that US growth looks good.
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Market Wrap, Thursday 19th June 2008
The FTSE close down 48.5 points at 5,708.4, whilst thew FTSE 250 closed down 88.2 points at 9,446.6.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 27 points at 12,002, whilst the S&P500 was down 4 points at 1,334, and the Nasdaq just about even, at 2,491. News on US unemployment showed a 5k drop in claims, but this wasn't as much as been hoped.
Back here in London, it was the banks under pressure again. HBOS closed down 22p at just shy of 297p, Barclays down 10.5p at just shy of 316p, Lloyds TSB down over 9p at 332, and Alliance & Leicester closed down 18.5p at 304.25p.
On to oil, where the price of the black stuff had pulled back from those spikes up near $140 bbl, to be trading at $134 bbl, down about $2.5 bbl on the day. News from China said they wtehy would be raising their petrol and diesel prices tomorrow. This all affected the oil heavyweights, with BP closing down 9.5p at 570.25p, RD Shell down 23p at 1,947, and Cairnm Energy down 4p at 3,218p, despite receiving a Goldman Sachs upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral'.
On to the miners, where BHP closed up 25p at 1,950, Anglo up 119p at 3,518, and Xstrata up 8p at 4,258p.
As we said this morning, UK energy provider Centrica closed up over 6p at 312 after a trading update that said it continues to trade in line with the guidance provided in its Interim Management Statement released back on 12th May.
On to retailers, where news that May retail sales in the UK actually rose by a rather healthy 3.5% to 8.1% on a yearly basis, helped the bigger store groups smile. Next closed up 14.5p at 1,012, Marks & Sparks up nearly a penny at 342p, and supermarket chain Tesco to close up 3.2p at 384.5p.
Train and bus operator Go-Ahead closed up 184p at 1,707, up 12% on the day, after a decent trading update that said its prospects for this full year are ahead of what it said it expected in its update in April. Citigroup reiterated its 'buy' stance with a 'told-you-so' attitude, it sounded like, adding that it would also lift its earnings estimates for this year and next. Peers followed the leader, with Firstgroup closing up 10.5p at 522p, National Express up 59.5p at 925p, and Stagecoach up nearly 19p at just shy of 257p.
On to the housebuilders, where Citigroup passed comment on a couple of the bigger players, basically saying we're at the bottom of the trough and a longer-term investment view should be taken. Redrow closed up 16.5p at 154.25p, and Bovis up 3p at just shy of 346p.
Cadburys closed up 3p at 628p after the group's trading statement pointed to ongoing strong performance, as anticipated.
Venture Production closed down 39p at 850.5p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'neutral' from 'buy'.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 27 points at 12,002, whilst the S&P500 was down 4 points at 1,334, and the Nasdaq just about even, at 2,491. News on US unemployment showed a 5k drop in claims, but this wasn't as much as been hoped.
Back here in London, it was the banks under pressure again. HBOS closed down 22p at just shy of 297p, Barclays down 10.5p at just shy of 316p, Lloyds TSB down over 9p at 332, and Alliance & Leicester closed down 18.5p at 304.25p.
On to oil, where the price of the black stuff had pulled back from those spikes up near $140 bbl, to be trading at $134 bbl, down about $2.5 bbl on the day. News from China said they wtehy would be raising their petrol and diesel prices tomorrow. This all affected the oil heavyweights, with BP closing down 9.5p at 570.25p, RD Shell down 23p at 1,947, and Cairnm Energy down 4p at 3,218p, despite receiving a Goldman Sachs upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral'.
On to the miners, where BHP closed up 25p at 1,950, Anglo up 119p at 3,518, and Xstrata up 8p at 4,258p.
As we said this morning, UK energy provider Centrica closed up over 6p at 312 after a trading update that said it continues to trade in line with the guidance provided in its Interim Management Statement released back on 12th May.
On to retailers, where news that May retail sales in the UK actually rose by a rather healthy 3.5% to 8.1% on a yearly basis, helped the bigger store groups smile. Next closed up 14.5p at 1,012, Marks & Sparks up nearly a penny at 342p, and supermarket chain Tesco to close up 3.2p at 384.5p.
Train and bus operator Go-Ahead closed up 184p at 1,707, up 12% on the day, after a decent trading update that said its prospects for this full year are ahead of what it said it expected in its update in April. Citigroup reiterated its 'buy' stance with a 'told-you-so' attitude, it sounded like, adding that it would also lift its earnings estimates for this year and next. Peers followed the leader, with Firstgroup closing up 10.5p at 522p, National Express up 59.5p at 925p, and Stagecoach up nearly 19p at just shy of 257p.
On to the housebuilders, where Citigroup passed comment on a couple of the bigger players, basically saying we're at the bottom of the trough and a longer-term investment view should be taken. Redrow closed up 16.5p at 154.25p, and Bovis up 3p at just shy of 346p.
Cadburys closed up 3p at 628p after the group's trading statement pointed to ongoing strong performance, as anticipated.
Venture Production closed down 39p at 850.5p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'neutral' from 'buy'.
Morning Market, Thursday 19th June 2008
The FTSE opened down this morning, but was back where it started after an hour or so at 5,756, whilst the FTSE 250 was down about 100 points at 9,435.
Last night over the pond the DJI closed down 131.24 points at 12,029.06, the S&P500 down over 13 points at 1,337.81, and the Nasdaq down 28 points at 2,429.71. Today we will get the weekly jobless claims numbers, which is expected to total 375k for w/e 14th June - below the 384k reported for the previous week. The number claiming for unemployment is expected to total 3.15m for w/e 31st May, which is above the previous week's four year high of 3.139m.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down 322.65 points at 14,130.17, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down about 430 points at 22,895 by its lunchtime chow time.
Back here in London, it was the banks who fell immediately, with HBOS down 13p at 306p, Barclays down 8p at 318p, and Alliance & Leicester down 8p at 315p.
With oil edging up again, so were the heavyweights. BP was up 5p at 585p, RD Shell up 16p at 2,031.5p, BG Group up 26p at 1,260 after a broker upgrade to 'outperform', and Cairn Energy up 110p at 3,331 after a Goldman Sachs upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral'.
On the othe hand, those that use a lot of oil suffered this morning. British Airways was down 6p at 220p, easyJet down 11p at 291p, and cruise ship operator Carnival down 56p at 1,667p.
On to food, where Cadburys was up 4p at 629p after a decetn trading statement which said it expects revenue growth to be even better than its 4% to 6% target. after its 2nd quarter beat the 1st quarter figure of 7%.
UK energy supplier Centrica was up 2p at 308p after saying that it continues to trade as expected.
Vodafone was up 0.6p at 150.7p after a press report that it is pulling out of the Tiscali auction because of a disagreement over the Italian Internet company's valuation.
Bus & train operator Go-Ahead was up 137p at 1,660p after saying it expects an even better year that it had expected in April expected view (!).
Housebuilders recovered some of the ground lost yetserday after the Citigroup report, with Redrow up 6p at 144p, and Bovis Homes up a penny a 344p.
Last night over the pond the DJI closed down 131.24 points at 12,029.06, the S&P500 down over 13 points at 1,337.81, and the Nasdaq down 28 points at 2,429.71. Today we will get the weekly jobless claims numbers, which is expected to total 375k for w/e 14th June - below the 384k reported for the previous week. The number claiming for unemployment is expected to total 3.15m for w/e 31st May, which is above the previous week's four year high of 3.139m.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down 322.65 points at 14,130.17, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down about 430 points at 22,895 by its lunchtime chow time.
Back here in London, it was the banks who fell immediately, with HBOS down 13p at 306p, Barclays down 8p at 318p, and Alliance & Leicester down 8p at 315p.
With oil edging up again, so were the heavyweights. BP was up 5p at 585p, RD Shell up 16p at 2,031.5p, BG Group up 26p at 1,260 after a broker upgrade to 'outperform', and Cairn Energy up 110p at 3,331 after a Goldman Sachs upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral'.
On the othe hand, those that use a lot of oil suffered this morning. British Airways was down 6p at 220p, easyJet down 11p at 291p, and cruise ship operator Carnival down 56p at 1,667p.
On to food, where Cadburys was up 4p at 629p after a decetn trading statement which said it expects revenue growth to be even better than its 4% to 6% target. after its 2nd quarter beat the 1st quarter figure of 7%.
UK energy supplier Centrica was up 2p at 308p after saying that it continues to trade as expected.
Vodafone was up 0.6p at 150.7p after a press report that it is pulling out of the Tiscali auction because of a disagreement over the Italian Internet company's valuation.
Bus & train operator Go-Ahead was up 137p at 1,660p after saying it expects an even better year that it had expected in April expected view (!).
Housebuilders recovered some of the ground lost yetserday after the Citigroup report, with Redrow up 6p at 144p, and Bovis Homes up a penny a 344p.
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Market Wrap, Wednesday 18th June 2008
The FTSE closed down 105 points at 5,756.9, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 189.1 points at 9,534.8.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 67 points at 12,093, whilst the S&P500 was down 9 points at 1,342, and the Nasdaq down 20 points at 2,438. As expected, the Bank of England showed its interest rate meeting which had 8 out of 9 members voting for 5% to stay.
Back here in London it was the banks and the housebuilders that suffered today. Carrying on from this morning's report, Goldman Sachs' comments last night didn't help, and then Morgan Stanley went and reported a 61% drop in Q2 profit. Barclays closed down over 14p at 326.25p, and RBS down 12p at 229.25p.
Housebuilders had a poor day, which is a shame after pulling themselves off the bottom the last few sessions. Persimmons closed down 33.5p at 379.5p, ahead of being booted out the FTSE this week. Peers followed, with Redrow down over 29p at just shy of 138p, Barratts down 10p at 80.5p, and Bovis Homes down 34.5p at just shy of 343p.
Staying in that arena, a Credit Suisse downgrade to the property sector with Land Securities down 15p at 1,332, Hammersons down 10p at 909.5p, British Land down 33.5p at 759.5p, Liberty down 3p at 886p, Great Portland down 18p at 352.25p, and Segro down nearly 19p at 400.25p.
On to food, where Sainsburys closed down 10.5p at 325.5p after 1st quarter sales figures were very mediocre, and the supermarket chain said it expects things to get harder. Peer Tesco closed down 11.7p at 381.3, and Morrisons down 6.5p at 271.25p. Staying in the high street, Marks & Sparks closed down nearly 19p 341.25.
Carnival closed down 54p at 1,723 after ABN Amro downgraded the leisure sector, citing concerns of people's spare cash for the next couple of years.
This also affected the brewers/pubs too, with Enterprise Inns down 23p at 420p, Marston's down nearly 14p at 196.25p, and Wetherspoons down 5p at 233p. A UBS upgarde to 'buy' from 'neutral' helped Smith & Nephew, though, who closed up 16.5p at 595.5p.
The pharmas have been quiet lately, but GlaxoSmithKline closed up 22p today at 1,102p after it won a contract from the Department of Health to supply its Cervarix human papilloma virus vaccine in the UK.
Mouchel closed up nearly 10p at 451p after a decent trading update.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 67 points at 12,093, whilst the S&P500 was down 9 points at 1,342, and the Nasdaq down 20 points at 2,438. As expected, the Bank of England showed its interest rate meeting which had 8 out of 9 members voting for 5% to stay.
Back here in London it was the banks and the housebuilders that suffered today. Carrying on from this morning's report, Goldman Sachs' comments last night didn't help, and then Morgan Stanley went and reported a 61% drop in Q2 profit. Barclays closed down over 14p at 326.25p, and RBS down 12p at 229.25p.
Housebuilders had a poor day, which is a shame after pulling themselves off the bottom the last few sessions. Persimmons closed down 33.5p at 379.5p, ahead of being booted out the FTSE this week. Peers followed, with Redrow down over 29p at just shy of 138p, Barratts down 10p at 80.5p, and Bovis Homes down 34.5p at just shy of 343p.
Staying in that arena, a Credit Suisse downgrade to the property sector with Land Securities down 15p at 1,332, Hammersons down 10p at 909.5p, British Land down 33.5p at 759.5p, Liberty down 3p at 886p, Great Portland down 18p at 352.25p, and Segro down nearly 19p at 400.25p.
On to food, where Sainsburys closed down 10.5p at 325.5p after 1st quarter sales figures were very mediocre, and the supermarket chain said it expects things to get harder. Peer Tesco closed down 11.7p at 381.3, and Morrisons down 6.5p at 271.25p. Staying in the high street, Marks & Sparks closed down nearly 19p 341.25.
Carnival closed down 54p at 1,723 after ABN Amro downgraded the leisure sector, citing concerns of people's spare cash for the next couple of years.
This also affected the brewers/pubs too, with Enterprise Inns down 23p at 420p, Marston's down nearly 14p at 196.25p, and Wetherspoons down 5p at 233p. A UBS upgarde to 'buy' from 'neutral' helped Smith & Nephew, though, who closed up 16.5p at 595.5p.
The pharmas have been quiet lately, but GlaxoSmithKline closed up 22p today at 1,102p after it won a contract from the Department of Health to supply its Cervarix human papilloma virus vaccine in the UK.
Mouchel closed up nearly 10p at 451p after a decent trading update.
Morning Market, Wednesday 18th June 2008
The FTSE was down about 40 points this morning in its first hour at 5,823, whilst the FTSE 250 was down 78 points at 9,646. With a fair day yetserday, it seemed that too much of a push would be too false.
Over the pond last night the DJI closed down 108.78 points at 12,160.30, whilst the S&P500 closed down over 9.2 points at 1,350.93, whilst the Nasdaq close down juts over 17 points at 2,457.73. News from Goldman Sachs that US banks will need to riase a massive US$65 bln didn't help matters. It was said that estimated credit losses due to the sub-prime mortage defaults will result in another $65 bln needed, this on top of the $120 bln already in the bag, as the peak of the problem won't be with us until next year.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed up almost 105 points at 14,452.82, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up 293 points at 23,350 by lunchtime chow time.
After almost hittng that dreaded US$140 bbl level, oil pulled back again, and with saudi upping production the feeling was easing, with Light Sweet (Jul del) trading at just under US$133.5 bbl, and Brent (Jul del) at US$133 bbl.
Back here in London it was the food retailing sector eveyone was loking at after Sainsburys reported a slowdown in sales growth for 1st quarter and said things would get tougher, with growth at 3.4% (excluding fuel), meaning the supermarket chain was down over 9p at 327p this morning. Peers followed, with Tesco down 12p at 381p, and Morrisons down 5.5p at 272p.
As we mentioned above, the Goldman Sachs news didn't do the banks any favours, Lloyds TSB down 6p at 350p, and RBS off 5p at 236.5p. This ahad of the BoE's interwst rate decision, which won't be a reduction, for sure.
On to land, where a Credit Suisse downgrade caused Land Securities to fall 35p to 1,350 after a 'neutral' rating was applied, down frm 'outperform', and a 1,529 target, down from 1,934p. Peer Great Portland Estates followed, down 8p to 362p after a similra downgrade, but to 'underperform' from 'neutral' with a 329p target, down from 573p. Other peers ignored, or saw some switching, with Hammerson up 10p at 930p, and Liberty International up 6p at 895p after a Credit Suisse double upgrade one notch.
On to leisure, where ABN Amro downgraded cruise operator carnival, who were down 43p at 1,732p.
Others downgraded by ABN Amro were Enterprise Inns, down 10p to 433p, and Marstons, down 4p to 206p, and JD Wetherspoon, down 8p to 230p.
Carphone Warehouse was up 4p at 224p after a Merrill Lynch upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral'.
Over the pond last night the DJI closed down 108.78 points at 12,160.30, whilst the S&P500 closed down over 9.2 points at 1,350.93, whilst the Nasdaq close down juts over 17 points at 2,457.73. News from Goldman Sachs that US banks will need to riase a massive US$65 bln didn't help matters. It was said that estimated credit losses due to the sub-prime mortage defaults will result in another $65 bln needed, this on top of the $120 bln already in the bag, as the peak of the problem won't be with us until next year.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed up almost 105 points at 14,452.82, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up 293 points at 23,350 by lunchtime chow time.
After almost hittng that dreaded US$140 bbl level, oil pulled back again, and with saudi upping production the feeling was easing, with Light Sweet (Jul del) trading at just under US$133.5 bbl, and Brent (Jul del) at US$133 bbl.
Back here in London it was the food retailing sector eveyone was loking at after Sainsburys reported a slowdown in sales growth for 1st quarter and said things would get tougher, with growth at 3.4% (excluding fuel), meaning the supermarket chain was down over 9p at 327p this morning. Peers followed, with Tesco down 12p at 381p, and Morrisons down 5.5p at 272p.
As we mentioned above, the Goldman Sachs news didn't do the banks any favours, Lloyds TSB down 6p at 350p, and RBS off 5p at 236.5p. This ahad of the BoE's interwst rate decision, which won't be a reduction, for sure.
On to land, where a Credit Suisse downgrade caused Land Securities to fall 35p to 1,350 after a 'neutral' rating was applied, down frm 'outperform', and a 1,529 target, down from 1,934p. Peer Great Portland Estates followed, down 8p to 362p after a similra downgrade, but to 'underperform' from 'neutral' with a 329p target, down from 573p. Other peers ignored, or saw some switching, with Hammerson up 10p at 930p, and Liberty International up 6p at 895p after a Credit Suisse double upgrade one notch.
On to leisure, where ABN Amro downgraded cruise operator carnival, who were down 43p at 1,732p.
Others downgraded by ABN Amro were Enterprise Inns, down 10p to 433p, and Marstons, down 4p to 206p, and JD Wetherspoon, down 8p to 230p.
Carphone Warehouse was up 4p at 224p after a Merrill Lynch upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral'.
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Market Wrap, Tuesday 17th June 2008
The FTSE closed up 67.3 points today at 5,861.9, which was quite a good day, really, although it had been as high as 5,930 during the session. The FTSE 250 closed up 88.4 points at 9,723.9, all despite inflation figures giving many of us the jitetrs. Don't expect any interest rate cuts in the near future.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 66 points at 12,203, whilst the S&P500 was off 4 points at 1,356, and the Nasdaq down 5 points at 2,470. The main news item from the US was the PPI figure, which was up 1.4% in a month. The core PPI, which doesn't include energy costs and food bills was up 0.2%, which was more stomachable. House & building construction was reported as down 1.3% for May, showing that the housing market is still on the wane. One positive note was that somehow Goldman Sachs has reported a 2nd quarter profit of some US$2.05 bln. Not quite what we expected.
Back here in London, it was the banks that were still recovering. Barclays closed up 11.5p at 340.5p, HBOS up nearly 11p at just shy of 327p, Lloyds TSB up 8.5p at 356.25p, and RBS, helped by a Dresdner Kleinwort upgrade to 'add' from 'reduce', was up 6.25p at 241.25p,
The miners also continued well today, with ENRC topping the board, up 87p at 1,491p, BHP up 71p at 1,936p, Lonmin up 137p at 3,266, and Rio Tinto up 205p at 6,090. Rio still had those rumours doing the rounds about Chinese interest and stake building.
Whitbread was up 48p at 1,270 after a decent update and sales up 7.1% for the quarter to 29th May, and rumours of a deal with budget hotels was also mentioned on the floors.
Oil services company, AMEC, received a decent comment from UBS, which said it liked the firm more than its peer Petrofac, but upgraded it to 'neutral' all the same. AMEC closed up 43.5p at 951, whilst Petrofac closed up 20p at 679p.
Housebuilders let some of their recent gain go again, with the UK's inflation of 3.3% not helping the sector leaders, with Persimmon closing down 8.25p at 413p, Barratts down 7p at 90.5p, Redrow down 5.25p at 167p, and Taylor Wimpey down nearly 3p at just shy of 74p.
Morgan Stanley's report on the media sector caused a bit of a downturn, with the broker downgrading the whole sector to 'in-line' from 'attractive', saying it reckons firms won't be sepnding much on advertising and similar in the current economic climate. A few of the bigger comapnies received downgrades, with WPP Group, Yell, and TNS all downgraded to 'equal-weight' from 'overweight', and Trinity Mirror down to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight'. Yell closed down 8p at 95p, Trinity MIrror down nearly 9p at 190.5p, TNS down nearly 3p at 250p, ITV closed down 0.2p at 55.8p, Reed Elsevier closed down 17.5p at 592p, and Thomson Reuters closed down 6p at 1,566p.
Software firm Misys, who give a trading update tomorrow, closed up over 6p at 164.5p.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 66 points at 12,203, whilst the S&P500 was off 4 points at 1,356, and the Nasdaq down 5 points at 2,470. The main news item from the US was the PPI figure, which was up 1.4% in a month. The core PPI, which doesn't include energy costs and food bills was up 0.2%, which was more stomachable. House & building construction was reported as down 1.3% for May, showing that the housing market is still on the wane. One positive note was that somehow Goldman Sachs has reported a 2nd quarter profit of some US$2.05 bln. Not quite what we expected.
Back here in London, it was the banks that were still recovering. Barclays closed up 11.5p at 340.5p, HBOS up nearly 11p at just shy of 327p, Lloyds TSB up 8.5p at 356.25p, and RBS, helped by a Dresdner Kleinwort upgrade to 'add' from 'reduce', was up 6.25p at 241.25p,
The miners also continued well today, with ENRC topping the board, up 87p at 1,491p, BHP up 71p at 1,936p, Lonmin up 137p at 3,266, and Rio Tinto up 205p at 6,090. Rio still had those rumours doing the rounds about Chinese interest and stake building.
Whitbread was up 48p at 1,270 after a decent update and sales up 7.1% for the quarter to 29th May, and rumours of a deal with budget hotels was also mentioned on the floors.
Oil services company, AMEC, received a decent comment from UBS, which said it liked the firm more than its peer Petrofac, but upgraded it to 'neutral' all the same. AMEC closed up 43.5p at 951, whilst Petrofac closed up 20p at 679p.
Housebuilders let some of their recent gain go again, with the UK's inflation of 3.3% not helping the sector leaders, with Persimmon closing down 8.25p at 413p, Barratts down 7p at 90.5p, Redrow down 5.25p at 167p, and Taylor Wimpey down nearly 3p at just shy of 74p.
Morgan Stanley's report on the media sector caused a bit of a downturn, with the broker downgrading the whole sector to 'in-line' from 'attractive', saying it reckons firms won't be sepnding much on advertising and similar in the current economic climate. A few of the bigger comapnies received downgrades, with WPP Group, Yell, and TNS all downgraded to 'equal-weight' from 'overweight', and Trinity Mirror down to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight'. Yell closed down 8p at 95p, Trinity MIrror down nearly 9p at 190.5p, TNS down nearly 3p at 250p, ITV closed down 0.2p at 55.8p, Reed Elsevier closed down 17.5p at 592p, and Thomson Reuters closed down 6p at 1,566p.
Software firm Misys, who give a trading update tomorrow, closed up over 6p at 164.5p.
Dragon Oil - Anyone looking?
Dragon Oil.
We have been very selective with any 'long' trades, but this one has come up as a possibility. We see this one as attractive. With the current price around 460p, we can see a possible rise to 550p after a 500p baulk. Difficult to trade on margin, though, due to overnight gaps. Run a stop as per our chart trading rules.
Few points:
Mkt Cap £2.4bn.
Operating in Yemen & Caspian Sea (offshore Turkmenistan).
Producing around 37,000 boepd.
Cash balance of $548m.
No debt.
Joins FTSE 250 next Monday
P/E 14.5 (5th lowest in FTSE 350 Oil & Gas Producers sector)
Share price recently pulled back 30% and now turning upwards again
We have had a good look at the sector and this looks good for a price target 550p.
Do your own research, of course.
We have been very selective with any 'long' trades, but this one has come up as a possibility. We see this one as attractive. With the current price around 460p, we can see a possible rise to 550p after a 500p baulk. Difficult to trade on margin, though, due to overnight gaps. Run a stop as per our chart trading rules.
Few points:
Mkt Cap £2.4bn.
Operating in Yemen & Caspian Sea (offshore Turkmenistan).
Producing around 37,000 boepd.
Cash balance of $548m.
No debt.
Joins FTSE 250 next Monday
P/E 14.5 (5th lowest in FTSE 350 Oil & Gas Producers sector)
Share price recently pulled back 30% and now turning upwards again
We have had a good look at the sector and this looks good for a price target 550p.
Do your own research, of course.
Morning Market, Tuesday 17th June 2008
The FTSE was up this morning, with many believing we could see a mini revival for a while. Not sure about the fundamentals there, though. Anyway, the FTSE was up about 35 points at 5,830 this morning, whilst the FTSE 250 was up 100 points at 9,737.
Last night over the pond, the DJI closed down 38.3 points at 12,269.1, whilst the S&P500 closed just about where it opened at 1,360.14, and the Nasdaq closed up 20.28 points at 2,474.78.
In the far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down 6 points at 14,348.37, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down a point by its lunchtime chow at 23,028.
Back here in London this morning, it was Whitbread that was top of the pile today, up 50p at 1,272p after announcing a decent, positive start to the year, with sales up over 7% in the first quarter to 29th May.
On to the banks, where HBOS was up 14p at 330p, Barclays up 5p at 334p, RBS up 4p at 239p, and Lloyds TSB up 3p at 351p.
The miners were also doing ok, with BHP up 44p at 1,909, Anto up 16p at 668, and Rio up 125p at 6,010.
Staying with oil, AMEC was also doing well, up 15p at 923p after a UBS said they liked it. Peer Petrofac also got a UBS upgrade to 'neutral' from 'sell', causing a jump of 26p to 685p.
Home Retail Group was up only 2p at 228.5p despite a Investec Securities upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' with a 277p target, up another 12p.
Smiths Group was up 45p at 1,098 on positive broker comment too.
Last night over the pond, the DJI closed down 38.3 points at 12,269.1, whilst the S&P500 closed just about where it opened at 1,360.14, and the Nasdaq closed up 20.28 points at 2,474.78.
In the far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down 6 points at 14,348.37, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down a point by its lunchtime chow at 23,028.
Back here in London this morning, it was Whitbread that was top of the pile today, up 50p at 1,272p after announcing a decent, positive start to the year, with sales up over 7% in the first quarter to 29th May.
On to the banks, where HBOS was up 14p at 330p, Barclays up 5p at 334p, RBS up 4p at 239p, and Lloyds TSB up 3p at 351p.
The miners were also doing ok, with BHP up 44p at 1,909, Anto up 16p at 668, and Rio up 125p at 6,010.
Staying with oil, AMEC was also doing well, up 15p at 923p after a UBS said they liked it. Peer Petrofac also got a UBS upgrade to 'neutral' from 'sell', causing a jump of 26p to 685p.
Home Retail Group was up only 2p at 228.5p despite a Investec Securities upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' with a 277p target, up another 12p.
Smiths Group was up 45p at 1,098 on positive broker comment too.
Monday, 16 June 2008
Market Wrap, Monday 16th June 2008
The FTSE closed down 8.2 points today at 5,794.6, down about 37 points from its high, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 16.8 points at 9,635.5.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 54 points at 12,253, whilst the S&P500 was down 1.75 points at 1,358, and the Nasdaq was actually up 9.6 points at 2,464. News on manufacturing data didn't help, down from minus 3.7 to minus 8.7 for the month, and nor did oil bouncing yet again - back up near the US$140 bbl mark again, despite Saudi saying they're upping production by 200k bbl per day.
Back here in London, predictably, considering the oil hike in price yet again, the users suffered. British Airways fell over 11p to 239.25p, with Goldman Sachs adding to the airline's woes by reducing its target from 2-quid down to 177p. Cruise ship operator Carnival, who also use shed-loads of fuel, closed down 42p at 1,790p.
As mentioned this morning, the miners were bouyant after the weekend press reports that Brazilan giant Vale was sniffing with intent on a bid for Anglo. Anglo closed up 148p at 3,337p, whilst peers joined in the good mood as Vedanta closed up 24p at 2,277p, and ENRC closed up 83p at 1,404p, helped by an ABN Amro upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' and a 1,650p target, up £3.50.
Food producers were down as a UBS downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral' on two players was taken on board. cadburys closed down 19p at 633p, whilst Uniliver closed down 46p at 1,527p.
On to banks, where Barclays closed up 11p at 329p after confirming its share placement was sorted, with press reports that £4 bln has been pledged at a higher price than the 318p close price last Friday.
Housebuilders continued with some bounce after mews that some of the big institutions want to help the ailing sector. Persimmons closed up nearly 10p at 421.25p, Barratts up 11p at 97.5p, Redrow up 8.5p at 172.25p, Taylor Wimpey up 6p at 76.5p, and Bellway up 24p at 536p.
One mention of one of our old favourites - Genus plc, which closed down 30p at 845p after a Panmure Gordon note that it reckons Genus is unlikely top see much improvement from its business overe the pond next year. Genus has had a remarkable run this last 2 years, so profitsappear to be being taken.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 54 points at 12,253, whilst the S&P500 was down 1.75 points at 1,358, and the Nasdaq was actually up 9.6 points at 2,464. News on manufacturing data didn't help, down from minus 3.7 to minus 8.7 for the month, and nor did oil bouncing yet again - back up near the US$140 bbl mark again, despite Saudi saying they're upping production by 200k bbl per day.
Back here in London, predictably, considering the oil hike in price yet again, the users suffered. British Airways fell over 11p to 239.25p, with Goldman Sachs adding to the airline's woes by reducing its target from 2-quid down to 177p. Cruise ship operator Carnival, who also use shed-loads of fuel, closed down 42p at 1,790p.
As mentioned this morning, the miners were bouyant after the weekend press reports that Brazilan giant Vale was sniffing with intent on a bid for Anglo. Anglo closed up 148p at 3,337p, whilst peers joined in the good mood as Vedanta closed up 24p at 2,277p, and ENRC closed up 83p at 1,404p, helped by an ABN Amro upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' and a 1,650p target, up £3.50.
Food producers were down as a UBS downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral' on two players was taken on board. cadburys closed down 19p at 633p, whilst Uniliver closed down 46p at 1,527p.
On to banks, where Barclays closed up 11p at 329p after confirming its share placement was sorted, with press reports that £4 bln has been pledged at a higher price than the 318p close price last Friday.
Housebuilders continued with some bounce after mews that some of the big institutions want to help the ailing sector. Persimmons closed up nearly 10p at 421.25p, Barratts up 11p at 97.5p, Redrow up 8.5p at 172.25p, Taylor Wimpey up 6p at 76.5p, and Bellway up 24p at 536p.
One mention of one of our old favourites - Genus plc, which closed down 30p at 845p after a Panmure Gordon note that it reckons Genus is unlikely top see much improvement from its business overe the pond next year. Genus has had a remarkable run this last 2 years, so profitsappear to be being taken.
Morning Market, Monday 16th June 2008
The FTSE was up about 20 points this morning at 5,823, whilst the FTSE 250 was up about 67 points at 9,719.
Over the pond on Friday the DJI closed up 165.8 points at 12,307.3, whicst the S&P500 closed up just over 20 points at 1,360.05, and the Nasdaq up nearly 2 points at 2,426.1.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed up 380.64 points at 14,354.37, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up about 610 points at 23,201 by its lunchtime chow time.
Staying in the Far East, the price of a barrel of the black stuff eased as news that Saudi were upping production by another 200,000 bbl per day helped ease availabilyty worries, what with the Nigerian troubles of late. Light Sweet (Jul del) was down to $134 bbl, nearly a dollar lower, whilst Brent was down about 60 cents at US$134.50 bbl.
Back here in London, the banks were doing quite well this morning, with Barclays up 34p at 352p after saying it may look overseas for its cash (which will be higher that Friday's close of 318p a share) to boost its coffers, and a take up would be certain should they choose to go that route. Peers also did ok, with HBOS up 12p at 334p, Lloyds TSB up 6p at 362p, and Alliance & Leicester up 15p at 354p.
On to the miners, where weekend press said that Vale, the Brazilan mining giant, is looking at a bid for Anglo American. Vale has been linked with a few M&A and bid stories over the last few months, and we feel this one may be stronger than most. Anglo was up 92p at 3,281p, with HSBC upping its target a quid to £31.50 helping. ENRC was up 47p at 1,368p after an ABN Amro upgarde to 'buy' from 'hold', and BHP was up 18p at 1,870, and Vedanta up 33p at 2,286p.
With the price of the black stuff pulling back to $134 bbl, the oil heavyweights retreated a little too. BP was down 4p at 581p, and RD Shell down 20p at 1,987p.
Cadburys was down 12p at 640p after a UBS downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral', whilst Unilever was down 27p at 1,514 after also getting a UBS downgrade the same.
Carrying on from last week, the housebuilders seem to be coming off the bottom as weekend press said that some of the bigger institutions are working on plans to help the building sector. Taylor Wimpey was up 8p at 79p, Barratts up 8p at 95p, Bellway up 28p at 540p, Persimmons up 20p at 431.5p, and Redrow was up 11p at 175p.
Over the pond on Friday the DJI closed up 165.8 points at 12,307.3, whicst the S&P500 closed up just over 20 points at 1,360.05, and the Nasdaq up nearly 2 points at 2,426.1.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed up 380.64 points at 14,354.37, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up about 610 points at 23,201 by its lunchtime chow time.
Staying in the Far East, the price of a barrel of the black stuff eased as news that Saudi were upping production by another 200,000 bbl per day helped ease availabilyty worries, what with the Nigerian troubles of late. Light Sweet (Jul del) was down to $134 bbl, nearly a dollar lower, whilst Brent was down about 60 cents at US$134.50 bbl.
Back here in London, the banks were doing quite well this morning, with Barclays up 34p at 352p after saying it may look overseas for its cash (which will be higher that Friday's close of 318p a share) to boost its coffers, and a take up would be certain should they choose to go that route. Peers also did ok, with HBOS up 12p at 334p, Lloyds TSB up 6p at 362p, and Alliance & Leicester up 15p at 354p.
On to the miners, where weekend press said that Vale, the Brazilan mining giant, is looking at a bid for Anglo American. Vale has been linked with a few M&A and bid stories over the last few months, and we feel this one may be stronger than most. Anglo was up 92p at 3,281p, with HSBC upping its target a quid to £31.50 helping. ENRC was up 47p at 1,368p after an ABN Amro upgarde to 'buy' from 'hold', and BHP was up 18p at 1,870, and Vedanta up 33p at 2,286p.
With the price of the black stuff pulling back to $134 bbl, the oil heavyweights retreated a little too. BP was down 4p at 581p, and RD Shell down 20p at 1,987p.
Cadburys was down 12p at 640p after a UBS downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral', whilst Unilever was down 27p at 1,514 after also getting a UBS downgrade the same.
Carrying on from last week, the housebuilders seem to be coming off the bottom as weekend press said that some of the bigger institutions are working on plans to help the building sector. Taylor Wimpey was up 8p at 79p, Barratts up 8p at 95p, Bellway up 28p at 540p, Persimmons up 20p at 431.5p, and Redrow was up 11p at 175p.
Friday, 13 June 2008
Market Wrap, Friday 13th June 2008
The FTSE had a change of heart today, on Friday 13th, and decided that because the US opened upo that it would reverse earlier negatives and join in with the guys over the pond. The FTSE closed up 12.3 points on the day at 5,802.8, which was up about 84 points from the session's low. The FTSE 250 closed up 98.1 points at 9,652.3.
By the time London closed the DJI was up nearly 128 points at 12,269, whilst the S&P500 was up 15 points at 1,355, and the Nasdaq up nearly 42 points at 2,446.
Back here in London the banks staged a little recovery, with HBOS having the best day, closing up nearly 39 points at just shy of 322p, which is now well above the rights issue price of 275p. This rise could be due to shorts closing, of course, as short sellers who are news investors have to disclose their positions. That's two decent days for HBOS, who had been priced under the rights issue price earlier this week. RBS also did ok, closing up over 7p at 236.25p after announcing the sale of Angelks Trains, the train leasing business, for £3.6 bln to Babock & Brown, the Aussie infrastructure group. Barclays closed up just over 3p at 318p, Lloyds TSB up 2.5p at 356p, and Alliance & Leicester up over 33p to close at just shy of 339p despite being kicked out of the FTSE 100 next week.
Carrying on from this morning, and yesterday, the housebuilders also had another good day, with Taylor Wimpey closing up 9.5p at 70.5p, Barratts up over 10p at 86.5p, and Redrow closing up nearly 23p at just shy of 164p.
BG Group closed up 16p at 1,258.5 after saying it had found more oil at Santos Basin in Brazil, which it has a 30% stake in.
The oil companies didn't do so well, despite the strength in the price of the stuff, although oil did back off a couple of bucks over the last couple of days, resulting in BP closing down 9p to 585.25p, RD Shell down 23p to 2,046p, and Tullow Oil down 33p to close at 887p.
British Airways liked the fall back in oil price, closing up 10.5p at 250.25p, and peer easyJet closing up 16.5p at 311.25p despite a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'buy'.
Carphone Warehouse closed up 12.25p to just shy of 215p, bouncing after yesterday's fall, after on closer inspeaction the results didn't look too bad, and Citigroup lifted its stance to 'hold' from 'sell', but did lower its target to 235p from 290p.
On to mining, where Kazakhmys closed down 47p at 1,550, ENRC down 39p at 1,321p, Xstrata down 72p at 4,160p, and Lonmin down 73p at 3,051p.
Rightmove closed down over 2p at 331p after a UBS short-term 'sell' stance after the Rightmove MD sold a chunk of stock worth ~£2.5m.
Johnston Press closed up nearly 12p at 69p after rumnours of a bid from the Malaysian investor, Usaha Tegas.
By the time London closed the DJI was up nearly 128 points at 12,269, whilst the S&P500 was up 15 points at 1,355, and the Nasdaq up nearly 42 points at 2,446.
Back here in London the banks staged a little recovery, with HBOS having the best day, closing up nearly 39 points at just shy of 322p, which is now well above the rights issue price of 275p. This rise could be due to shorts closing, of course, as short sellers who are news investors have to disclose their positions. That's two decent days for HBOS, who had been priced under the rights issue price earlier this week. RBS also did ok, closing up over 7p at 236.25p after announcing the sale of Angelks Trains, the train leasing business, for £3.6 bln to Babock & Brown, the Aussie infrastructure group. Barclays closed up just over 3p at 318p, Lloyds TSB up 2.5p at 356p, and Alliance & Leicester up over 33p to close at just shy of 339p despite being kicked out of the FTSE 100 next week.
Carrying on from this morning, and yesterday, the housebuilders also had another good day, with Taylor Wimpey closing up 9.5p at 70.5p, Barratts up over 10p at 86.5p, and Redrow closing up nearly 23p at just shy of 164p.
BG Group closed up 16p at 1,258.5 after saying it had found more oil at Santos Basin in Brazil, which it has a 30% stake in.
The oil companies didn't do so well, despite the strength in the price of the stuff, although oil did back off a couple of bucks over the last couple of days, resulting in BP closing down 9p to 585.25p, RD Shell down 23p to 2,046p, and Tullow Oil down 33p to close at 887p.
British Airways liked the fall back in oil price, closing up 10.5p at 250.25p, and peer easyJet closing up 16.5p at 311.25p despite a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'buy'.
Carphone Warehouse closed up 12.25p to just shy of 215p, bouncing after yesterday's fall, after on closer inspeaction the results didn't look too bad, and Citigroup lifted its stance to 'hold' from 'sell', but did lower its target to 235p from 290p.
On to mining, where Kazakhmys closed down 47p at 1,550, ENRC down 39p at 1,321p, Xstrata down 72p at 4,160p, and Lonmin down 73p at 3,051p.
Rightmove closed down over 2p at 331p after a UBS short-term 'sell' stance after the Rightmove MD sold a chunk of stock worth ~£2.5m.
Johnston Press closed up nearly 12p at 69p after rumnours of a bid from the Malaysian investor, Usaha Tegas.
Morning Market, Friday 13th June 2008
The FTSE didn't like Friday the 13th, and was down about 53 points early doors at 5,737, which wiped out most of the gains yesterday, whilst the FTSE 250 was down 75 points at 9,479.
Over the pond last night, the DJI closed up nearly 58 points at 12,141.58, which was down about 95 points from its high of the day, whilst the S&P500 closed up 4.35 points at 1,339.85, and the Nasdaq up over 10 points at 2,404.35. With oil rising again to $136 bbl, investors bouyed by the betetr than expected retial figures pulled back again.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed up 85.13 points at 13,973.73, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down about 173 points by lunchtime chow.
Back here in London, we saw a mix of interest, both long and short. The banks were coming off the bottom still, as we said yesterday, but airlines didn't like the oil price.
HBOS was up 16p at 299, back above the £4 bln rights issue price of 275p, whilst Barclays was up 4p at 319p and RBS was up 2p at 231p after reporting its £3.6 bln sale of Angel Trains, its train-leasing business, to a consortium group fronted up by Babock & Brown, the Aussie infrastructure group, and Alliance & Leicester was up 11p at 317p despite getting kicked out of the FTSE 100 next week.
On to oil related matters, where British Airways was down 9p at 231p, with investors really concenred about the current oil price and what's to come the rest of this year and beyond. Peer easyJet was down 4p at 291p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'buy' and lower target of 223p, down from 420p. The price of a barrel of the black stuff really will affect the bottom line for airlines, and now some of the forecasts of oil prices are quite frightening. We did say back at the New Year that $150 this year and $200 next year as a worst-case scenario, but didn't expect to hit $140 at the end of May, or whenever it was, and now we hear $250 bbl mentioned for next year. Oh dear.
Brewer SABMiller was down 30p at 1,170 as bid hopes fell away, especially as the bigger deal involving InBev's bid for Anheuser-Busch Cos overshadowed its waning interest.
Miners were down too, with Lonmin down 83p at 136p and Kazakhmys off 30p at 1,657p. Metals prices were up, too, so they do seem a bit 'toppy'.
As we said yesterday, the housebuilders do seem to be oversold and have attracted some scavengers (including us), with Taylor Wimpey up 7p at 68p, and Barratts up 7p at 83p.
Carphone Warehouse bounced from its recent freefall, up a penny at 204p, after a Citigroup upgrade to 'hold' from 'sell' after posting results that actually looked better when studied, it seems.
Halfords was down 5p at 264p after a HSBC downgrade to 'neutral' from 'overweight', and a lower target of 285p, down from 380p.
And Johnston Press was up 15p at 73p, coming off the bottom, it seems.
Over the pond last night, the DJI closed up nearly 58 points at 12,141.58, which was down about 95 points from its high of the day, whilst the S&P500 closed up 4.35 points at 1,339.85, and the Nasdaq up over 10 points at 2,404.35. With oil rising again to $136 bbl, investors bouyed by the betetr than expected retial figures pulled back again.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed up 85.13 points at 13,973.73, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down about 173 points by lunchtime chow.
Back here in London, we saw a mix of interest, both long and short. The banks were coming off the bottom still, as we said yesterday, but airlines didn't like the oil price.
HBOS was up 16p at 299, back above the £4 bln rights issue price of 275p, whilst Barclays was up 4p at 319p and RBS was up 2p at 231p after reporting its £3.6 bln sale of Angel Trains, its train-leasing business, to a consortium group fronted up by Babock & Brown, the Aussie infrastructure group, and Alliance & Leicester was up 11p at 317p despite getting kicked out of the FTSE 100 next week.
On to oil related matters, where British Airways was down 9p at 231p, with investors really concenred about the current oil price and what's to come the rest of this year and beyond. Peer easyJet was down 4p at 291p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'buy' and lower target of 223p, down from 420p. The price of a barrel of the black stuff really will affect the bottom line for airlines, and now some of the forecasts of oil prices are quite frightening. We did say back at the New Year that $150 this year and $200 next year as a worst-case scenario, but didn't expect to hit $140 at the end of May, or whenever it was, and now we hear $250 bbl mentioned for next year. Oh dear.
Brewer SABMiller was down 30p at 1,170 as bid hopes fell away, especially as the bigger deal involving InBev's bid for Anheuser-Busch Cos overshadowed its waning interest.
Miners were down too, with Lonmin down 83p at 136p and Kazakhmys off 30p at 1,657p. Metals prices were up, too, so they do seem a bit 'toppy'.
As we said yesterday, the housebuilders do seem to be oversold and have attracted some scavengers (including us), with Taylor Wimpey up 7p at 68p, and Barratts up 7p at 83p.
Carphone Warehouse bounced from its recent freefall, up a penny at 204p, after a Citigroup upgrade to 'hold' from 'sell' after posting results that actually looked better when studied, it seems.
Halfords was down 5p at 264p after a HSBC downgrade to 'neutral' from 'overweight', and a lower target of 285p, down from 380p.
And Johnston Press was up 15p at 73p, coming off the bottom, it seems.
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Market Wrap, Thursday 12th June 2008
The FTSE closed up over 67 points at 5,790.5, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up just over 131 points at 9,554.2.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the US was doing ok after the retail sales figures came out up 1% for May. At 4.30pm London time the DJI was up about 168 points at 12,252, whilst the S&P500 was up over 15 points at 1,351, and the Nasdaq up was up 34 points at 2,428.
Back here in London, the banks and builders fought back. As predicted, there seem to be a few bargains, at least short-term. HBOS closed up 25p was the top blue-chip riser, up 25p at 283p, Lloyds TSB up nearly 21p at 353.5p, and RBS up almost 17p at 239p.
The housebuilders were up too, with Taylor Wimpey closing up 8.5p at 61p, Bovis up 31p at 348p, Barratts up nearly 4p at 76.25p, and Redrow up nearly 7p at 141p.
On to the high street, where Next did well amongst some casualties, closing up 39p at 1,055 after saying it had done a £295m credit facility deal.
On to the miners, where Anto closed up over 20p at 633p, Vedanta closed upo 48p at 2,283p after a Golddman Sachs upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral', Rio up 227p at 5,827p, and Xstrata closed up 197p at 4,232.
With oil retracing again, now down at about US$133 bbl, British Airways investors liked the news, with the airline closing up over 20p at 240p. With oil falling, so did the heavyweights, mainly, with RD Shell down 30p at 2,029, BG Group down 15p at 1,243, and Cairn Energy down 42p at 3,425. There were a couple of winners, with BP up 2.5p at just over 594p after a Lehman Bros upgrade to 'equal weight' from 'unmderweight', and Premier Oil, up 2p at 1,645p after Dresdner Kleinwort told its clinets to move from Cairn to Premier.
Back to retail, Carphone Warehouse closed down 25.25p at 202.5p after uninpressing figures and a bleak outlook. Well, 'cautious', they said, which we know really means bleak. Homebase owner Home Retail Group was down nearly another 9p at 215p after saying sales were lower than expected for the 1st quarter, whilst B&Q owner Kingfisher closed down 5.3p at 118.9p in sympathy.
Game Group fell nearly 9p to just over 265p after a Investec 'sell' stance today, and PC World and Currys owner DSG International closed down 2.5p at just shy of 47p after Pali International reiterated its 'sell' stance but cut its target another 9p to 44p.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the US was doing ok after the retail sales figures came out up 1% for May. At 4.30pm London time the DJI was up about 168 points at 12,252, whilst the S&P500 was up over 15 points at 1,351, and the Nasdaq up was up 34 points at 2,428.
Back here in London, the banks and builders fought back. As predicted, there seem to be a few bargains, at least short-term. HBOS closed up 25p was the top blue-chip riser, up 25p at 283p, Lloyds TSB up nearly 21p at 353.5p, and RBS up almost 17p at 239p.
The housebuilders were up too, with Taylor Wimpey closing up 8.5p at 61p, Bovis up 31p at 348p, Barratts up nearly 4p at 76.25p, and Redrow up nearly 7p at 141p.
On to the high street, where Next did well amongst some casualties, closing up 39p at 1,055 after saying it had done a £295m credit facility deal.
On to the miners, where Anto closed up over 20p at 633p, Vedanta closed upo 48p at 2,283p after a Golddman Sachs upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral', Rio up 227p at 5,827p, and Xstrata closed up 197p at 4,232.
With oil retracing again, now down at about US$133 bbl, British Airways investors liked the news, with the airline closing up over 20p at 240p. With oil falling, so did the heavyweights, mainly, with RD Shell down 30p at 2,029, BG Group down 15p at 1,243, and Cairn Energy down 42p at 3,425. There were a couple of winners, with BP up 2.5p at just over 594p after a Lehman Bros upgrade to 'equal weight' from 'unmderweight', and Premier Oil, up 2p at 1,645p after Dresdner Kleinwort told its clinets to move from Cairn to Premier.
Back to retail, Carphone Warehouse closed down 25.25p at 202.5p after uninpressing figures and a bleak outlook. Well, 'cautious', they said, which we know really means bleak. Homebase owner Home Retail Group was down nearly another 9p at 215p after saying sales were lower than expected for the 1st quarter, whilst B&Q owner Kingfisher closed down 5.3p at 118.9p in sympathy.
Game Group fell nearly 9p to just over 265p after a Investec 'sell' stance today, and PC World and Currys owner DSG International closed down 2.5p at just shy of 47p after Pali International reiterated its 'sell' stance but cut its target another 9p to 44p.
Morning Market, Thursday 12th June 2008
The FTSE on was up about 12 points at 5,735 early doors, but did rise to 5,753 after opening, whilst the FTSE 250 was up 3 points at 9,426. We expect a better day today, though, but US retail figures may figure in that.
Over the pond last night, the DJI closed down almost 206 points at 12,083.77, whilst the S&P500 closed down nearly 23 points at 1,335.49, and the Nasdaq down almost 55 points at 2,394.01. With oil jumping $5 or $6 bbl after the inventory news, the markets didn't like it, but oil is backing off this morning and we exepct the US to open up.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down nearly 295 points at at 13,888.60, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang seng was down nearly 520 points by lunchtime chow time.
Staying in Asia, oil fell back a little to about US$135 bbl, both for Light Sweet and Brent (Jul del).
Oil stocks were up again after the renewed interest, with BP up 8p at 6-quid, RD Shell up 20p at 2,114, BG Group up 10p at 1,268p, Cairn Energy up 26p at 3,493p, and Tullow Oil up 8p at 937.
On to mining, where Vedanta Resources had a good morning, up nearly 40p at 2,274p after a Goldman Sachs upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral'.
Home Retail Group was down 12p at 212p after giving lower sales figures for thr 1st quarter, with 12% lower sales. Other retailers also felt the squeeze, with Kingfisher down 5p at 119p, and Marks & Sparks down 10p to 338p.
Carphone Warehouse was down 23p at 205p aftre results failed to impress, and its mention that it was still cautious with its outlook. Broker Landsbanki reiterated its 'reduce' stance.
Housebuilders were still under pressure, with Persimmons down 21p at 355p, Barratts down 6p at 66p, Bellway down 17p at 432p, and Bovis down 6p at 311p.
Over the pond last night, the DJI closed down almost 206 points at 12,083.77, whilst the S&P500 closed down nearly 23 points at 1,335.49, and the Nasdaq down almost 55 points at 2,394.01. With oil jumping $5 or $6 bbl after the inventory news, the markets didn't like it, but oil is backing off this morning and we exepct the US to open up.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down nearly 295 points at at 13,888.60, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang seng was down nearly 520 points by lunchtime chow time.
Staying in Asia, oil fell back a little to about US$135 bbl, both for Light Sweet and Brent (Jul del).
Oil stocks were up again after the renewed interest, with BP up 8p at 6-quid, RD Shell up 20p at 2,114, BG Group up 10p at 1,268p, Cairn Energy up 26p at 3,493p, and Tullow Oil up 8p at 937.
On to mining, where Vedanta Resources had a good morning, up nearly 40p at 2,274p after a Goldman Sachs upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral'.
Home Retail Group was down 12p at 212p after giving lower sales figures for thr 1st quarter, with 12% lower sales. Other retailers also felt the squeeze, with Kingfisher down 5p at 119p, and Marks & Sparks down 10p to 338p.
Carphone Warehouse was down 23p at 205p aftre results failed to impress, and its mention that it was still cautious with its outlook. Broker Landsbanki reiterated its 'reduce' stance.
Housebuilders were still under pressure, with Persimmons down 21p at 355p, Barratts down 6p at 66p, Bellway down 17p at 432p, and Bovis down 6p at 311p.
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Market Wrap, Wednesday 11th June 2008
The FTSE closed down 104 points at 5,723.3, which was quite a reverse from this morning, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 189 points at 5,859.4, as the market took the oil inventory figures badly, and the banks fell despite a better start this morning. The FTSE breaking below 5,800 wasn't good news, as that will now be a resistance level, we think, with the next support down at 5,400. Unless we get some good news from somewhere.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 159 points at 12,131, whilst the S&P 500 was 14 points down at 1,344, and the Nasdaq down 33 points at 2,416.
As we said above, crude oil inventories fell again for the 4th period in a row, we heard this afternoon, with crude-oil inventories down by 4.6m bbl to 302.2m bbl. This is over 13% lower than a year ago, and the price of the black stuff jumped a large US$4 bbl immediately.
Back here in London, it was the oilers that did well, with BP closing up nearly 9p at just shy of 592p, and BG Group up 5p at 1,258p. Oil services company, AMEC, closed up 19.5p at 914p, a high, as UBS reminded everyone of its 'buy' stance and upped its target to 1,030p, up 95p. Gas producer Centrica closed up nearly 9p at 305p after a Cazenove upgrade to 'outperform' and upped its target to 415p, up 45p.
As we mentioned this morning, Merrills downgraded the housing sector (albeit months late) causing further selling. Persimmon closed down 11.5p at 376p, which also wasn't helped by confirmation that despite being the last housebuilder in the FTSE 100, it was getting booted out. Redrow closed down over 31p at 134.25p, Bellway down 58p at 448.5p, Berkeley Homes closed down 47p to 682.5p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell', and Barratts down 19p to 72.5p, a massive 20% fall, and had been as low as 53p during the session. Barratts tried toi cal everyone, by giving its estimates for the year, which was, "In responding to continuing market speculation Barratt Developments is today confirming the guidance for its full year ending 30th June 2008 given to the market at its Interim Management Statement made on 14th May 2008. The company remains comfortable with market consensus forecasts for completions numbers of 18,300 units and a PBIT of £395m."
The banks reversed early gains as RBS failed to impress with an update, closing down 21p at 212.25p. The bank did say it should meet its 1st half earnings forecast, while write-downs are also expected to be where estimated t £5.9 bln, but there is still doubt on the whole situation, we hear. Peer Barclays closed down 15p at 306.5p, Lloyds TSB closed down nearly 19p at just shy of 33p, and HBOS down 34p at 258p, despite getting a UBS upgrade to 'buy' and news that the rights issue 'is going to plan'. The rights issue price is 275p, so to close at 258p is not good, but we expect a recovery on oversold situation, we would think.
The miners were down, with Kazakhmys down 114p at 1,550 and Anto down 33p at 612.5p.
Cable & Wireless closed down 9.2p at 155.9 after going ex div.
On to the high street, where Home Retail closed down 5.5p at just shy of 224p, Next closed down 81p at 1,016 after a Seymour Pierce downgrade, Marks & Spencer down 12p to 348.5p, and DSG International down 8.5p at 49.25p.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 159 points at 12,131, whilst the S&P 500 was 14 points down at 1,344, and the Nasdaq down 33 points at 2,416.
As we said above, crude oil inventories fell again for the 4th period in a row, we heard this afternoon, with crude-oil inventories down by 4.6m bbl to 302.2m bbl. This is over 13% lower than a year ago, and the price of the black stuff jumped a large US$4 bbl immediately.
Back here in London, it was the oilers that did well, with BP closing up nearly 9p at just shy of 592p, and BG Group up 5p at 1,258p. Oil services company, AMEC, closed up 19.5p at 914p, a high, as UBS reminded everyone of its 'buy' stance and upped its target to 1,030p, up 95p. Gas producer Centrica closed up nearly 9p at 305p after a Cazenove upgrade to 'outperform' and upped its target to 415p, up 45p.
As we mentioned this morning, Merrills downgraded the housing sector (albeit months late) causing further selling. Persimmon closed down 11.5p at 376p, which also wasn't helped by confirmation that despite being the last housebuilder in the FTSE 100, it was getting booted out. Redrow closed down over 31p at 134.25p, Bellway down 58p at 448.5p, Berkeley Homes closed down 47p to 682.5p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell', and Barratts down 19p to 72.5p, a massive 20% fall, and had been as low as 53p during the session. Barratts tried toi cal everyone, by giving its estimates for the year, which was, "In responding to continuing market speculation Barratt Developments is today confirming the guidance for its full year ending 30th June 2008 given to the market at its Interim Management Statement made on 14th May 2008. The company remains comfortable with market consensus forecasts for completions numbers of 18,300 units and a PBIT of £395m."
The banks reversed early gains as RBS failed to impress with an update, closing down 21p at 212.25p. The bank did say it should meet its 1st half earnings forecast, while write-downs are also expected to be where estimated t £5.9 bln, but there is still doubt on the whole situation, we hear. Peer Barclays closed down 15p at 306.5p, Lloyds TSB closed down nearly 19p at just shy of 33p, and HBOS down 34p at 258p, despite getting a UBS upgrade to 'buy' and news that the rights issue 'is going to plan'. The rights issue price is 275p, so to close at 258p is not good, but we expect a recovery on oversold situation, we would think.
The miners were down, with Kazakhmys down 114p at 1,550 and Anto down 33p at 612.5p.
Cable & Wireless closed down 9.2p at 155.9 after going ex div.
On to the high street, where Home Retail closed down 5.5p at just shy of 224p, Next closed down 81p at 1,016 after a Seymour Pierce downgrade, Marks & Spencer down 12p to 348.5p, and DSG International down 8.5p at 49.25p.
Morning Market, Wednesday 11th Jun 2008
The FTSE was up this morning, about 12 points up at 5,839, whilst the FTSE 250 was down 13 points at 9,613.
Last night over the pond, the DJI closed slightly up, with the DJI up 9.4 points at 12,289.8, whilst the S&P500 was down 3.3 points at 1,358.45, and the Nasdaq down 10.52 points at 2,448.94.
In the Far East today, the Nikkei 225 closed up 162.31 points at 14,183.48, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up about 70 points at 23,447 by its lunchtime chow.
Oil was up again, but not flying, settled around the US$132 bbl level. Brent was about 50cents cheaper that Light Sweet.
Back here in London, the banks staged a little bit of a recovery this morning, with RBS up a penny at 234p after saying all was on track, and that thier guess of about £5.9 bln in write-downs was about right. That's ok, then. Peers were doing well, with Barclays up 10p at 331.5p, HBOS up 6p at 298p, and Lloyds TSB up 3p at 354p. UBS upgraded HBOS to 'buy' rating.
The housebuilders didn't have such a good start, though, wit all the bigger builders falling 3 or 4%, and even Barratts down about 2%. Merrills downgraded to major builders, with a fall as synchronised fall a result. Persimmon was down 13p at 374p, Bellway down 28p at 478p, Redrow down 11p at 154p, Bovis Homes down 13p at 330p, and Berkeley Homes down 65p at 665p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral'.
British Airways was up 7p at 232p as oil was down from that nasty $140 bbl spike, whilst cruise operator Carnival was up 34p at 1,849.
On to retail, where Home Retail Group was down 3p at 226p and Next was off 7p at 1,4761p. Sainsburys now looks value, as an upgrade to 'neutral' from 'underweight' helped a 3p rise to 328p for the supermarket.
On to mining, where ENRC said it expects some price rises, but still fell 20p to 1,343p.
Last night over the pond, the DJI closed slightly up, with the DJI up 9.4 points at 12,289.8, whilst the S&P500 was down 3.3 points at 1,358.45, and the Nasdaq down 10.52 points at 2,448.94.
In the Far East today, the Nikkei 225 closed up 162.31 points at 14,183.48, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up about 70 points at 23,447 by its lunchtime chow.
Oil was up again, but not flying, settled around the US$132 bbl level. Brent was about 50cents cheaper that Light Sweet.
Back here in London, the banks staged a little bit of a recovery this morning, with RBS up a penny at 234p after saying all was on track, and that thier guess of about £5.9 bln in write-downs was about right. That's ok, then. Peers were doing well, with Barclays up 10p at 331.5p, HBOS up 6p at 298p, and Lloyds TSB up 3p at 354p. UBS upgraded HBOS to 'buy' rating.
The housebuilders didn't have such a good start, though, wit all the bigger builders falling 3 or 4%, and even Barratts down about 2%. Merrills downgraded to major builders, with a fall as synchronised fall a result. Persimmon was down 13p at 374p, Bellway down 28p at 478p, Redrow down 11p at 154p, Bovis Homes down 13p at 330p, and Berkeley Homes down 65p at 665p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral'.
British Airways was up 7p at 232p as oil was down from that nasty $140 bbl spike, whilst cruise operator Carnival was up 34p at 1,849.
On to retail, where Home Retail Group was down 3p at 226p and Next was off 7p at 1,4761p. Sainsburys now looks value, as an upgrade to 'neutral' from 'underweight' helped a 3p rise to 328p for the supermarket.
On to mining, where ENRC said it expects some price rises, but still fell 20p to 1,343p.
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Market Wrap, Tuesday 10th June 2008
The FTSE closed down 50.3 points today at 5,827.3, whilst the FTSE250 closed down 114.8 points at 9,626.5.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down nearly 16 points at 12,264.6, whilst the S&P500 was down over 7 points at 1,354.43, and the Nasdaq down over 17 points at 2,442.02. Rumours and opinions that the Fed Reserve may actually raise interest rates so to kerb inflation are gaining strength.
Oil was creeping up again, although we do feel it is still very high at the minute. We need to see if there is a pull back to $120 bbl level, or even lower than that to $110 bbl level, so we can see what the high is, which would be a longer term $140 bbl. It has settled at the $132 bbl level at the moment, so whether we see another run up is really just a guess. Hard call.
Back here in London, it was Tescos that was in the news, closing down over 10p at 391.8p after reporting just a 3.5% grwoth in sales, which wasn't as bullish as hoped. Peer Sainsburys closed down 8p to 325.25.
On to housebuilders, where Persimmons closed down over 41p at 387.5p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral'. Now Persimmons is capped at only £1.2 bln, being dumped from the next FTSE 100 shuffle seems inevitable. Peer Redrow was also downgraded to 'sell' by Goldman Sachs, closing down 32p at 165.5p, and Barratt Developments was down 29.25p at 91.5p. We don't think this is the bottom as yet.
Interbroker dealer ICAP closed down 26p at 564.5p after a Credit Suisse downgrade to 'underperform' from 'neutral' and adding a 535p target, down 75p.
Banks had a bad day too, with HBOS closing down 15p at 292p, Lloyds TSB down over 5p at 351.5p, Alliance & Leicester closing down 16.5p at 348p, and Bradford & Bingley was down a penny at 71p. There must be some bounce from the banks coming - we can hope (!). Seriously, though, we do think there is soem value in these prices longer term.
Miners were down after metals fell too, with Xstrata closing down 99p 4,123, Rio down 141p at 5,729p, BHP down 52p at 1,825, and ENRC down 38p at 1,363p. ENRC said it was to acquire another 7.66% of Kazakhmys, but has no intention of a bid. These two national peers do seem more and more likely to get it together. Kazakhmys, though, closed up 37p at 1,664, and Vedanta also did better than others, closing up 15p at 2,298p after Morgan Stanley rated it as 'overweight' and gave it a 35-quid target.
Tullow Oil closed up 19.5p at 938.5p after Citigroup raised its target to 11-quid from 910p after the news we mentioned this morning that it has agreed to sell its 51.7% stake in the offshore Hewett Unit fields in the North Sea to Italian energy group Eni for £210m cash. Peer Cairn Energy had a good day, closing up 131 at 3,474.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down nearly 16 points at 12,264.6, whilst the S&P500 was down over 7 points at 1,354.43, and the Nasdaq down over 17 points at 2,442.02. Rumours and opinions that the Fed Reserve may actually raise interest rates so to kerb inflation are gaining strength.
Oil was creeping up again, although we do feel it is still very high at the minute. We need to see if there is a pull back to $120 bbl level, or even lower than that to $110 bbl level, so we can see what the high is, which would be a longer term $140 bbl. It has settled at the $132 bbl level at the moment, so whether we see another run up is really just a guess. Hard call.
Back here in London, it was Tescos that was in the news, closing down over 10p at 391.8p after reporting just a 3.5% grwoth in sales, which wasn't as bullish as hoped. Peer Sainsburys closed down 8p to 325.25.
On to housebuilders, where Persimmons closed down over 41p at 387.5p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral'. Now Persimmons is capped at only £1.2 bln, being dumped from the next FTSE 100 shuffle seems inevitable. Peer Redrow was also downgraded to 'sell' by Goldman Sachs, closing down 32p at 165.5p, and Barratt Developments was down 29.25p at 91.5p. We don't think this is the bottom as yet.
Interbroker dealer ICAP closed down 26p at 564.5p after a Credit Suisse downgrade to 'underperform' from 'neutral' and adding a 535p target, down 75p.
Banks had a bad day too, with HBOS closing down 15p at 292p, Lloyds TSB down over 5p at 351.5p, Alliance & Leicester closing down 16.5p at 348p, and Bradford & Bingley was down a penny at 71p. There must be some bounce from the banks coming - we can hope (!). Seriously, though, we do think there is soem value in these prices longer term.
Miners were down after metals fell too, with Xstrata closing down 99p 4,123, Rio down 141p at 5,729p, BHP down 52p at 1,825, and ENRC down 38p at 1,363p. ENRC said it was to acquire another 7.66% of Kazakhmys, but has no intention of a bid. These two national peers do seem more and more likely to get it together. Kazakhmys, though, closed up 37p at 1,664, and Vedanta also did better than others, closing up 15p at 2,298p after Morgan Stanley rated it as 'overweight' and gave it a 35-quid target.
Tullow Oil closed up 19.5p at 938.5p after Citigroup raised its target to 11-quid from 910p after the news we mentioned this morning that it has agreed to sell its 51.7% stake in the offshore Hewett Unit fields in the North Sea to Italian energy group Eni for £210m cash. Peer Cairn Energy had a good day, closing up 131 at 3,474.
Morning Market, Tuesday 10th June 2008
The FTSE was down this monring, down about 45 points at 5,832, whilst the FTSE 250 was down 90 points at 9,650.
Last night overt he pond the DJI closed over 70 points at 12,280.32, which was welcome after the terrible day on Friday. The S&P500 closed up a point at 1,361.76, whilst the Nasdaq closed down 15 points at 2,459.46.
In the Far East today the Nikkei closed down 160 points at 14,021.17, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang seng closed down 1,011.27 at 23,390.89. In mainland China the Shanghai market closed down 5%, so the Hang seng followed.
Back here in London this morning it was the banks that were suffering again as the Lehman Brothers news was upsetting eveyone, it seems, after posting a $3 bln loss for the 2nd quarter and then saying they were going to riase $6 bln to boost coffers. UK banks were down, as we said, with HBOS off 11p at 296p, Barclays down 10p at 308p, RBS down 7p at 227p, and Lloyds TSB down 8p at 349p.
The housebuilders were also down again, with sales at their lowest level for 30 years, we hear. The only FTSE 100 housebuildr, Persimmons, was down 25p at 403p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral' whilst peer Redrow suffered a similar fate, with Goldman sachs also downgrading to 'sell' from 'neutral', down 16p at 181p.
ICAP was down 10p at 581p after a Credit Suisse downgrade to 'underperform' from 'neutral' and lowered its target to 535p from 610p.
On to the retail sector, where Tesco was down 11p at 390.5p after saying 1st quarter sales were down, prompting Merrill Lynch to reiterate its 'neutral' recommendation.
British Energy was down 4p at 717p aftre press reports that the highest bid auction for the company was unsure at the moment after Fench enrgy giant EDF refused to up its bid.
With oil strong, the oil majors were strong, with RD Shell up 14p at 2,101, BP up 2p at 596p, and Tullow Oil up 15p at 935p. Tullows said it has agreed to sell its 51.7% stake in North Sea operator Hewett Unit fields to Italian energy group Eni for £210m cash.
Miners also did well early this morning, with ENRC up 90p to 1,415, and Kazakhmys up 20p at 1,647 after saying it will buy another 7.66% of ENRC. Vedanta Resources climbed 69 pence to 2,352, as Morgan Stanley initiated coverage as 'overweight' with a 3,500 pence price target.
Last night overt he pond the DJI closed over 70 points at 12,280.32, which was welcome after the terrible day on Friday. The S&P500 closed up a point at 1,361.76, whilst the Nasdaq closed down 15 points at 2,459.46.
In the Far East today the Nikkei closed down 160 points at 14,021.17, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang seng closed down 1,011.27 at 23,390.89. In mainland China the Shanghai market closed down 5%, so the Hang seng followed.
Back here in London this morning it was the banks that were suffering again as the Lehman Brothers news was upsetting eveyone, it seems, after posting a $3 bln loss for the 2nd quarter and then saying they were going to riase $6 bln to boost coffers. UK banks were down, as we said, with HBOS off 11p at 296p, Barclays down 10p at 308p, RBS down 7p at 227p, and Lloyds TSB down 8p at 349p.
The housebuilders were also down again, with sales at their lowest level for 30 years, we hear. The only FTSE 100 housebuildr, Persimmons, was down 25p at 403p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral' whilst peer Redrow suffered a similar fate, with Goldman sachs also downgrading to 'sell' from 'neutral', down 16p at 181p.
ICAP was down 10p at 581p after a Credit Suisse downgrade to 'underperform' from 'neutral' and lowered its target to 535p from 610p.
On to the retail sector, where Tesco was down 11p at 390.5p after saying 1st quarter sales were down, prompting Merrill Lynch to reiterate its 'neutral' recommendation.
British Energy was down 4p at 717p aftre press reports that the highest bid auction for the company was unsure at the moment after Fench enrgy giant EDF refused to up its bid.
With oil strong, the oil majors were strong, with RD Shell up 14p at 2,101, BP up 2p at 596p, and Tullow Oil up 15p at 935p. Tullows said it has agreed to sell its 51.7% stake in North Sea operator Hewett Unit fields to Italian energy group Eni for £210m cash.
Miners also did well early this morning, with ENRC up 90p to 1,415, and Kazakhmys up 20p at 1,647 after saying it will buy another 7.66% of ENRC. Vedanta Resources climbed 69 pence to 2,352, as Morgan Stanley initiated coverage as 'overweight' with a 3,500 pence price target.
Monday, 9 June 2008
Market Wrap, Monday 9th June 2008
The FTSE closed down 29.2 points today at 5,877.6, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 93 points at 9,741.3. The banks pulled the FTSE down, which would have been lower had it not been for the oil stocks.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was actually up about 107 points at 12,317, whilst the S&P500 was up 5 points at 1,366, and the Nasdaq up 12 points at 2,462. News expected that home sales may be better than originally thought helped, as did news from Ronald McDonalds, who posted some decent numbers. It seems no matter how bad things are, those that use McDonalds for thier food can find the cash. Worrying news, though, was that Lehman Brothers is raiing some serious cash thru' a share offer at US$28 a pop, with 143m to sell. That's $4 bln they want to raise, so to boost the bank's coffers. The bank also said it had lost a rather hefty US$3 bln in the 2nd quarter, which was heavier than expected. This news helped pull the London banks down.
Back here in London, the banks fell. RBS closed nearly 12p down at just shy of 234p after saying that 95% took up the rights issue shares, which was as expected. Peers were all dsown, with HBOS closing off nearly 24p at 307p, and Barclays closing down over 19p at 318.5p.
On to power, where we gave news this morning that France's EDF was looking to take out British Energy had given the UK power group a boost, but this reversed during the session and it closed down 14p at 721p after saying it has actually not received any potential bid offers that are higher than the 6th June closing price of 735p. Rumours that it had accepted the DF offer seem premature.
As we said this morning, oil had jumped a rather worrying US$11 bbl at the end of the week. This has backed off about $2 or $3 bbl today, but the airlines and fuel users still suffered. British Airways closed down nearly 6p at just shy of 228p, whilst orange-coloured peer easyJet closed down nearly 7p at just shy of 301p. Cruise ship operator Carnival closed down 40p at 1,806p.
Had the oil stocks not been as strong, the FTSE would have been down much further today. With the price of the black stuff so strong, we saw a boost to the heavyweights, with BP closing up 14p at just shy of 595p, RD Shell closing up 32p at 2,087p, BG Group up 24p at 1,280p, Dana Petroleum closed up 29p at 1,858, and Venture Production closed up 28.5p at 923.5p. Oil services firm Petrofac also did well, closing up 62p at 7-quid on the back of a Goldman Sachs upgarde to 'buy' from 'neutral'.
On to commodities, where metal prices were on the up too. The mining sector really has been the only performer this last year, to really speak about, anyway. Anglo closed up 43p at 3,298, Xstrata up 115p at 4,222, and Vedanta Resources closed up 25p at 2,283p.
On to the house builders, where all have had a really poor year. This continued today, with Barratt Developments closing down 20p at just shy of 121p, Redrow down 17p at 197.5p, and Persimmons closing down 18.5p at just shy of 429p. Persimmons, which is the only housebuilder still in the FTSE 100, looks like it will also be kicked out to the 250 in the next shuffle.
Pub group Mitchells & Butlers closed down 20p at 260.25p after weekend press reports that said M&B management had warned that it reckoned its pub beer sales ('on-trade') would fall by over 40% in the next 10 years.
One riser worth mentioning was Informa, which closed up over 51p at 437.5p after announcing a tie-up deal with United Business Media, who closed up 12.5p at 618p. News that this would be one bigger group was received well.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was actually up about 107 points at 12,317, whilst the S&P500 was up 5 points at 1,366, and the Nasdaq up 12 points at 2,462. News expected that home sales may be better than originally thought helped, as did news from Ronald McDonalds, who posted some decent numbers. It seems no matter how bad things are, those that use McDonalds for thier food can find the cash. Worrying news, though, was that Lehman Brothers is raiing some serious cash thru' a share offer at US$28 a pop, with 143m to sell. That's $4 bln they want to raise, so to boost the bank's coffers. The bank also said it had lost a rather hefty US$3 bln in the 2nd quarter, which was heavier than expected. This news helped pull the London banks down.
Back here in London, the banks fell. RBS closed nearly 12p down at just shy of 234p after saying that 95% took up the rights issue shares, which was as expected. Peers were all dsown, with HBOS closing off nearly 24p at 307p, and Barclays closing down over 19p at 318.5p.
On to power, where we gave news this morning that France's EDF was looking to take out British Energy had given the UK power group a boost, but this reversed during the session and it closed down 14p at 721p after saying it has actually not received any potential bid offers that are higher than the 6th June closing price of 735p. Rumours that it had accepted the DF offer seem premature.
As we said this morning, oil had jumped a rather worrying US$11 bbl at the end of the week. This has backed off about $2 or $3 bbl today, but the airlines and fuel users still suffered. British Airways closed down nearly 6p at just shy of 228p, whilst orange-coloured peer easyJet closed down nearly 7p at just shy of 301p. Cruise ship operator Carnival closed down 40p at 1,806p.
Had the oil stocks not been as strong, the FTSE would have been down much further today. With the price of the black stuff so strong, we saw a boost to the heavyweights, with BP closing up 14p at just shy of 595p, RD Shell closing up 32p at 2,087p, BG Group up 24p at 1,280p, Dana Petroleum closed up 29p at 1,858, and Venture Production closed up 28.5p at 923.5p. Oil services firm Petrofac also did well, closing up 62p at 7-quid on the back of a Goldman Sachs upgarde to 'buy' from 'neutral'.
On to commodities, where metal prices were on the up too. The mining sector really has been the only performer this last year, to really speak about, anyway. Anglo closed up 43p at 3,298, Xstrata up 115p at 4,222, and Vedanta Resources closed up 25p at 2,283p.
On to the house builders, where all have had a really poor year. This continued today, with Barratt Developments closing down 20p at just shy of 121p, Redrow down 17p at 197.5p, and Persimmons closing down 18.5p at just shy of 429p. Persimmons, which is the only housebuilder still in the FTSE 100, looks like it will also be kicked out to the 250 in the next shuffle.
Pub group Mitchells & Butlers closed down 20p at 260.25p after weekend press reports that said M&B management had warned that it reckoned its pub beer sales ('on-trade') would fall by over 40% in the next 10 years.
One riser worth mentioning was Informa, which closed up over 51p at 437.5p after announcing a tie-up deal with United Business Media, who closed up 12.5p at 618p. News that this would be one bigger group was received well.
The FTSE was up about 15 points this morning at 5,920, whilst the FTSE 250 was up 3 points at 9,838. Th strength comes from the heavyweight oil companies, as the FTSE is weighted in their direction and oil jumped to a record high again.
It was a poor day on Friday over the pond, where the DJI closed down nearly 395 poinbts at 12,209.81, whilst the S&P500 closed down over 43 points at 1,360.68, and the Nasdaq down over 75 points at 2,474.56. All three down about 3% on the day, which is the largest fall in well over a year. News in the US that it was the biggest gain in the government's unemployment figure for more than 20 years didn't go down well, and then add to that the leap to almost US$140 bbl in oil price, one can see why the Dow tumpled. US$11 rise for a barrel is a significantr jump for one day, and up to a new record is rather concerning. Recent hopes that things were turning for the better were obviously very premature. Morgan Stanley now reckons we can see US$150 bbl by 4th July, so whether thge US still celebrates as much on their independence day we'll have to see.
In the Far East this morning the Nikkei 225 closed down 308 points at 14,181.38, whilst in Hong Kong they were having a greather for a public holiday. Just as well.
Staying in Asia, oil trading showed that $11 had been a too bigger jump for one day, as oil prices fell back to about US$137.70 bbl.
Back here in London, as mentioned above it was the oilers that were on the up. BP up 10p to 591p, RD Shell up 32p to 2,087p, BG Group up 14p to 1,270p, Cairn Energy up 35p at 3,340p, Dana Petroleum up 55p at 1,884p, Venture Production up 26p at 921p, and Premier Oil was up 44p at 1,698p. Petrofac, the oil services firm, was up 40p at 678p after a UBS upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral' by UBS.
British Energy was also doing well, up 6p to 741p after weekend press reports suggested France's EDF was looking and sniffing with a £10 bln bid. Peer International Power was up 5p to 442p, and National Grid up 7p at 710p.
On to tobacco, where Imperial Tobacco was up 23p at 1,972, and peer British American Tobacco was up 13po at 1,865p.
On to the fallers, where obviously those using fuel took a hit. British Airways was down 8p at 225.5p, whilst easyJet was down 10p at 297.5p, and cruise operator Carnival was down 28p at 1,816p.
On to the City, where our very own London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) feell nearly 20p to 895p as concenrs over the markets grew, whilst ICAP was down 6p at 597.5p, and SChroders was down nearly 20p at 895p.
On to the banks, where HBOS was down 6p at 328p, Lloyds TSB down 5p at 363p, and Barclays was down 3p at 334p. Barclays were a subject of weekend press reports that
the bank is looking for some £3 bln in casgh input to bolsetr its books from some foreign institutions.
On to the high street, where Marks & Sparks was down 7p at 372p, Kingfisher down 1.3p at 132.7p, and DSG Intnl was down 2p at 60.5p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral'.
It was a poor day on Friday over the pond, where the DJI closed down nearly 395 poinbts at 12,209.81, whilst the S&P500 closed down over 43 points at 1,360.68, and the Nasdaq down over 75 points at 2,474.56. All three down about 3% on the day, which is the largest fall in well over a year. News in the US that it was the biggest gain in the government's unemployment figure for more than 20 years didn't go down well, and then add to that the leap to almost US$140 bbl in oil price, one can see why the Dow tumpled. US$11 rise for a barrel is a significantr jump for one day, and up to a new record is rather concerning. Recent hopes that things were turning for the better were obviously very premature. Morgan Stanley now reckons we can see US$150 bbl by 4th July, so whether thge US still celebrates as much on their independence day we'll have to see.
In the Far East this morning the Nikkei 225 closed down 308 points at 14,181.38, whilst in Hong Kong they were having a greather for a public holiday. Just as well.
Staying in Asia, oil trading showed that $11 had been a too bigger jump for one day, as oil prices fell back to about US$137.70 bbl.
Back here in London, as mentioned above it was the oilers that were on the up. BP up 10p to 591p, RD Shell up 32p to 2,087p, BG Group up 14p to 1,270p, Cairn Energy up 35p at 3,340p, Dana Petroleum up 55p at 1,884p, Venture Production up 26p at 921p, and Premier Oil was up 44p at 1,698p. Petrofac, the oil services firm, was up 40p at 678p after a UBS upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral' by UBS.
British Energy was also doing well, up 6p to 741p after weekend press reports suggested France's EDF was looking and sniffing with a £10 bln bid. Peer International Power was up 5p to 442p, and National Grid up 7p at 710p.
On to tobacco, where Imperial Tobacco was up 23p at 1,972, and peer British American Tobacco was up 13po at 1,865p.
On to the fallers, where obviously those using fuel took a hit. British Airways was down 8p at 225.5p, whilst easyJet was down 10p at 297.5p, and cruise operator Carnival was down 28p at 1,816p.
On to the City, where our very own London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) feell nearly 20p to 895p as concenrs over the markets grew, whilst ICAP was down 6p at 597.5p, and SChroders was down nearly 20p at 895p.
On to the banks, where HBOS was down 6p at 328p, Lloyds TSB down 5p at 363p, and Barclays was down 3p at 334p. Barclays were a subject of weekend press reports that
the bank is looking for some £3 bln in casgh input to bolsetr its books from some foreign institutions.
On to the high street, where Marks & Sparks was down 7p at 372p, Kingfisher down 1.3p at 132.7p, and DSG Intnl was down 2p at 60.5p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral'.
Morning Market, Monday 9th June 2008
The FTSE was up about 15 points this morning at 5,920, whilst the FTSE 250 was up 3 points at 9,838. Th strength comes from the heavyweight oil companies, as the FTSE is weighted in their direction and oil jumped to a record high again.
It was a poor day on Friday over the pond, where the DJI closed down nearly 395 poinbts at 12,209.81, whilst the S&P500 closed down over 43 points at 1,360.68, and the Nasdaq down over 75 points at 2,474.56. All three down about 3% on the day, which is the largest fall in well over a year. News in the US that it was the biggest gain in the government's unemployment figure for more than 20 years didn't go down well, and then add to that the leap to almost US$140 bbl in oil price, one can see why the Dow tumpled. US$11 rise for a barrel is a significantr jump for one day, and up to a new record is rather concerning. Recent hopes that things were turning for the better were obviously very premature. Morgan Stanley now reckons we can see US$150 bbl by 4th July, so whether thge US still celebrates as much on their independence day we'll have to see.
In the Far East this morning the Nikkei 225 closed down 308 points at 14,181.38, whilst in Hong Kong they were having a greather for a public holiday. Just as well.
Staying in Asia, oil trading showed that $11 had been a too bigger jump for one day, as oil prices fell back to about US$137.70 bbl.
Back here in London, as mentioned above it was the oilers that were on the up. BP up 10p to 591p, RD Shell up 32p to 2,087p, BG Group up 14p to 1,270p, Cairn Energy up 35p at 3,340p, Dana Petroleum up 55p at 1,884p, Venture Production up 26p at 921p, and Premier Oil was up 44p at 1,698p. Petrofac, the oil services firm, was up 40p at 678p after a UBS upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral' by UBS.
British Energy was also doing well, up 6p to 741p after weekend press reports suggested France's EDF was looking and sniffing with a £10 bln bid. Peer International Power was up 5p to 442p, and National Grid up 7p at 710p.
On to tobacco, where Imperial Tobacco was up 23p at 1,972, and peer British American Tobacco was up 13po at 1,865p.
On to the fallers, where obviously those using fuel took a hit. British Airways was down 8p at 225.5p, whilst easyJet was down 10p at 297.5p, and cruise operator Carnival was down 28p at 1,816p.
On to the City, where our very own London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) feell nearly 20p to 895p as concenrs over the markets grew, whilst ICAP was down 6p at 597.5p, and SChroders was down nearly 20p at 895p.
On to the banks, where HBOS was down 6p at 328p, Lloyds TSB down 5p at 363p, and Barclays was down 3p at 334p. Barclays were a subject of weekend press reports that
the bank is looking for some £3 bln in casgh input to bolsetr its books from some foreign institutions.
On to the high street, where Marks & Sparks was down 7p at 372p, Kingfisher down 1.3p at 132.7p, and DSG Intnl was down 2p at 60.5p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral'.
It was a poor day on Friday over the pond, where the DJI closed down nearly 395 poinbts at 12,209.81, whilst the S&P500 closed down over 43 points at 1,360.68, and the Nasdaq down over 75 points at 2,474.56. All three down about 3% on the day, which is the largest fall in well over a year. News in the US that it was the biggest gain in the government's unemployment figure for more than 20 years didn't go down well, and then add to that the leap to almost US$140 bbl in oil price, one can see why the Dow tumpled. US$11 rise for a barrel is a significantr jump for one day, and up to a new record is rather concerning. Recent hopes that things were turning for the better were obviously very premature. Morgan Stanley now reckons we can see US$150 bbl by 4th July, so whether thge US still celebrates as much on their independence day we'll have to see.
In the Far East this morning the Nikkei 225 closed down 308 points at 14,181.38, whilst in Hong Kong they were having a greather for a public holiday. Just as well.
Staying in Asia, oil trading showed that $11 had been a too bigger jump for one day, as oil prices fell back to about US$137.70 bbl.
Back here in London, as mentioned above it was the oilers that were on the up. BP up 10p to 591p, RD Shell up 32p to 2,087p, BG Group up 14p to 1,270p, Cairn Energy up 35p at 3,340p, Dana Petroleum up 55p at 1,884p, Venture Production up 26p at 921p, and Premier Oil was up 44p at 1,698p. Petrofac, the oil services firm, was up 40p at 678p after a UBS upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral' by UBS.
British Energy was also doing well, up 6p to 741p after weekend press reports suggested France's EDF was looking and sniffing with a £10 bln bid. Peer International Power was up 5p to 442p, and National Grid up 7p at 710p.
On to tobacco, where Imperial Tobacco was up 23p at 1,972, and peer British American Tobacco was up 13po at 1,865p.
On to the fallers, where obviously those using fuel took a hit. British Airways was down 8p at 225.5p, whilst easyJet was down 10p at 297.5p, and cruise operator Carnival was down 28p at 1,816p.
On to the City, where our very own London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) feell nearly 20p to 895p as concenrs over the markets grew, whilst ICAP was down 6p at 597.5p, and SChroders was down nearly 20p at 895p.
On to the banks, where HBOS was down 6p at 328p, Lloyds TSB down 5p at 363p, and Barclays was down 3p at 334p. Barclays were a subject of weekend press reports that
the bank is looking for some £3 bln in casgh input to bolsetr its books from some foreign institutions.
On to the high street, where Marks & Sparks was down 7p at 372p, Kingfisher down 1.3p at 132.7p, and DSG Intnl was down 2p at 60.5p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral'.
Friday, 6 June 2008
Market Wrap, Friday 6th June 2008
As expected, London closed down today, the end of the week, off 88.5 points at 5,906.8, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 175.9 points at 9,834.3.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down about 260 points at 12,344, whilst the S&P500 was down about 25 points at 1,379, and the Nasdaq down 45 points at 2,505. This was a reaction to the non-farm payroll figures, which showed US unemployment had risen and the price of oil jumping up 6-bucks a bbl.
Back here in London, with the oil price leaping up again on concerns of Middle East possible military action & problems, it was those that use the stuff that were affected the most. British Airways, who have had a decent few days, fell nearly 21p to 233.5p, peer easyJet down nearly 26p at 307.5p, whilst cruise ship operator Carnival fell 95p to close at 1,846p.
Staying with the black stuff, where the oil related stocks were popular as oil was on the up again. Cairn Energy closed up 116p at 3,305, RD Shell up 9p at 2,055, Tullow Oil closed up 6.5p at 900.5p, Venture Production up 15p at 895p, and Premier Oil closed up 66p at 1,654p. Premier Oil had said that its overall production was above 40,000 bbl per day so far this year, and saying it was on track to reach 50,000 bbl per day at the end of 2010.
With the dollar getting weaker, the metal prices rose, helping the miners. Xstrata closed up 145p at 4,107, BHP up 25p at 1,903p, and ENRC up 32p at 1,380p.
Perth-based fuel supplier Scottish & Southern Energy, the fuel supplier, closed up 35p at 1,509p after a Morgan Stanley upgrade to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight', adding a 1,780p target, up 330p from its previous saying higher power prices and market share were very positive.
Johnson Matthey closed up 49p at 2,012 after Credit Suisse upped its target 120p to 1,770p.
On to insurance, where Standard Life closed down 15.5p at just shy of 247p after Deutche Bank downgrade to 'sell', adding a 266p, 23p lower.
Communication sector saw Cable & Wireless close down 4p at just shy of 164p after Thus Telecom 3.9, as Thus rejected a 165p per share cash bid from C&W. Thus closed up a penny at just shy of 157p. Peer Carphone Warehouse had a better day, up 6p to just shy of 243p after Merrill Lynch stuck it on its preferred list.
Carpetright closed down 30.5p at 765p after an Altium Securities downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold', adding a 640p target, down 82p from its previous.
High Street jeweller Signet closed down 3.5p at just shy of 60p after reporting a 24% reduction in 1st quarter profit.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down about 260 points at 12,344, whilst the S&P500 was down about 25 points at 1,379, and the Nasdaq down 45 points at 2,505. This was a reaction to the non-farm payroll figures, which showed US unemployment had risen and the price of oil jumping up 6-bucks a bbl.
Back here in London, with the oil price leaping up again on concerns of Middle East possible military action & problems, it was those that use the stuff that were affected the most. British Airways, who have had a decent few days, fell nearly 21p to 233.5p, peer easyJet down nearly 26p at 307.5p, whilst cruise ship operator Carnival fell 95p to close at 1,846p.
Staying with the black stuff, where the oil related stocks were popular as oil was on the up again. Cairn Energy closed up 116p at 3,305, RD Shell up 9p at 2,055, Tullow Oil closed up 6.5p at 900.5p, Venture Production up 15p at 895p, and Premier Oil closed up 66p at 1,654p. Premier Oil had said that its overall production was above 40,000 bbl per day so far this year, and saying it was on track to reach 50,000 bbl per day at the end of 2010.
With the dollar getting weaker, the metal prices rose, helping the miners. Xstrata closed up 145p at 4,107, BHP up 25p at 1,903p, and ENRC up 32p at 1,380p.
Perth-based fuel supplier Scottish & Southern Energy, the fuel supplier, closed up 35p at 1,509p after a Morgan Stanley upgrade to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight', adding a 1,780p target, up 330p from its previous saying higher power prices and market share were very positive.
Johnson Matthey closed up 49p at 2,012 after Credit Suisse upped its target 120p to 1,770p.
On to insurance, where Standard Life closed down 15.5p at just shy of 247p after Deutche Bank downgrade to 'sell', adding a 266p, 23p lower.
Communication sector saw Cable & Wireless close down 4p at just shy of 164p after Thus Telecom 3.9, as Thus rejected a 165p per share cash bid from C&W. Thus closed up a penny at just shy of 157p. Peer Carphone Warehouse had a better day, up 6p to just shy of 243p after Merrill Lynch stuck it on its preferred list.
Carpetright closed down 30.5p at 765p after an Altium Securities downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold', adding a 640p target, down 82p from its previous.
High Street jeweller Signet closed down 3.5p at just shy of 60p after reporting a 24% reduction in 1st quarter profit.
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Market Wrap, Thursday 5th June 2008
A bit of a rollercoaster today, with the FTSE falling down and then back to positive territory, and choosing to stay on the better side for the close, which was up 25.2 points at 5,995.3, just shy of the 6k level. Although we can add that it hit 6,005 during the session. The FTSE 250 closed up 33.3 points at 10,010.2, which is above that psychological 10k line.
As predicted, the Bank of England kept interest rates at 5%, whcih we expect to be the same for the next few months at least. Inflation, at 3%, is 1% higher than the 2% target, and looks like getting worse. With inflation rising there won't be any interest rate cuts, and could even cause a rise if it hits 4%, but we'll have to see. Analysts reckon that consumer confidence is back to a 20-year low, just as house prices started to fall off in the late 80s. Talking of house prices, Halifax's housing market survey showed a 2.4% fall in May. Despite some positive moves, we feel the market has further to fall. The FTSE is so weighted with commodity stocks, that any fall back in the metals prices will see the FTSE take a tumble. Oil & metals have been rising at a much higher rate than anything else, giving the miners and oilers big boost.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up about 125 points at 12,515, whilst the S&P500 was up over 13 points at 1,391, and the Nasdaq up 30 points at 2,533. The non-farm figures were better than expected, as the US government said unemployment claims were down. News that sales from some of the bigger US stores also helped the US markets jump today. Wal-Mart said their sales were up nearly 10% on the same month last year, which was to everyone's suprise. It added that its International growth was at 16.6%, with the UK (Asda) seeing shoppers seek the best prices and value for money.
Back here in London, it was the miners that were holding the FTSE back. With metal prices falling, it was the big miners that saw some pull-back. Anglo American closed down 97p at 3,304, BHP down 22p at 1,878, Kazakhmys closed down 45p at 1,625, and Lonmin closed down 104p at 3,350 after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'neutral' from 'buy'. Johnson Matthey, the big metals & chemical buyer/trader, closed off 76p at 1,963 on profit taking, despite saying its prospects remained good and posting a 16% increase in pre-tax profit at £265.4m. Merrill's liked it, though, reminding everyone of its 'buy' stance and 21-quid target.
Vodafone, whcih had gone ex-div this week, closed up 5.8p at 160.45 as news that the telecoms giant was well into a JV deal with US-based Verizon to take out Alltel for £28 bln.
On to banks, where RBS closed up 9.5p at 259p, with the rights issue news coming tomorrow, and rumours of a hedge fund buying up what it could. Peer HBOS closed up 17.5p at 358p, Barclays up 11p to 363p, and Bradford & Bingley up 4.5p at 73.25p, still with the Texas Pacific private equity group sniffing with intent for 20%.
British Airways closed up 10.5p at 254.25p on the back of the recent lower oil price, whilst peer easyJet closed up 18.5p at 333.25p too.
Oil was up to US$123.50 bbl, but it didn't seem to faze the big users, it seems. Oil companies still suffered, though, with Premier Oil closing down 56p at 1,588, and Hardy Oil & Gas down 49p at 758.
On to the housebuilders, where despite the poor housing figures they seem to be coming off the bottom. Bellway closoed up 32.5p at 626.5p despite the firm saying that the market has gone down in the last few months, resulting in over 30% drop in reservations, and broker Numis still saying it had a 'buy' rating. Peer Taylor Wimpey closed up nearly 5p at just shy of 83p, Bovis closed up 17p at 405p, Persimmons up 8.5p at 463.5p, and Redrow closed up nearly 13p at just shy of 227p.
Balfour Beatty closed up 8p at just shy of 427p after buying the construction management company Barnhart, prompting a double smile from ABN Amro and Landsbanki, who both reiterated their 'buy' stances.
In to the High Street where retailers also bounced. Home Retail Group, who own Argos, closed up 13.5p at 252p on the back of a Seymour Pierce upgrade, whilst peer Marks & Sparks closed up 11.5p at 392p. DIY experts Kingfisher, who own B&Q, closed up 3.6p at 139.5p as investors felt this week's figures may not have been as bad as they first thought. Halfords closed up 13p at 279.5p after saying profits were up 8% to £90.2m, which was well received. Three brokers all reiterated their 'buy' stance on the popular sat-nav retailer.
Morrisons, the supermarket chain, closed down 7.5p at just shy of 285p after saying sales were slower.
As predicted, the Bank of England kept interest rates at 5%, whcih we expect to be the same for the next few months at least. Inflation, at 3%, is 1% higher than the 2% target, and looks like getting worse. With inflation rising there won't be any interest rate cuts, and could even cause a rise if it hits 4%, but we'll have to see. Analysts reckon that consumer confidence is back to a 20-year low, just as house prices started to fall off in the late 80s. Talking of house prices, Halifax's housing market survey showed a 2.4% fall in May. Despite some positive moves, we feel the market has further to fall. The FTSE is so weighted with commodity stocks, that any fall back in the metals prices will see the FTSE take a tumble. Oil & metals have been rising at a much higher rate than anything else, giving the miners and oilers big boost.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up about 125 points at 12,515, whilst the S&P500 was up over 13 points at 1,391, and the Nasdaq up 30 points at 2,533. The non-farm figures were better than expected, as the US government said unemployment claims were down. News that sales from some of the bigger US stores also helped the US markets jump today. Wal-Mart said their sales were up nearly 10% on the same month last year, which was to everyone's suprise. It added that its International growth was at 16.6%, with the UK (Asda) seeing shoppers seek the best prices and value for money.
Back here in London, it was the miners that were holding the FTSE back. With metal prices falling, it was the big miners that saw some pull-back. Anglo American closed down 97p at 3,304, BHP down 22p at 1,878, Kazakhmys closed down 45p at 1,625, and Lonmin closed down 104p at 3,350 after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'neutral' from 'buy'. Johnson Matthey, the big metals & chemical buyer/trader, closed off 76p at 1,963 on profit taking, despite saying its prospects remained good and posting a 16% increase in pre-tax profit at £265.4m. Merrill's liked it, though, reminding everyone of its 'buy' stance and 21-quid target.
Vodafone, whcih had gone ex-div this week, closed up 5.8p at 160.45 as news that the telecoms giant was well into a JV deal with US-based Verizon to take out Alltel for £28 bln.
On to banks, where RBS closed up 9.5p at 259p, with the rights issue news coming tomorrow, and rumours of a hedge fund buying up what it could. Peer HBOS closed up 17.5p at 358p, Barclays up 11p to 363p, and Bradford & Bingley up 4.5p at 73.25p, still with the Texas Pacific private equity group sniffing with intent for 20%.
British Airways closed up 10.5p at 254.25p on the back of the recent lower oil price, whilst peer easyJet closed up 18.5p at 333.25p too.
Oil was up to US$123.50 bbl, but it didn't seem to faze the big users, it seems. Oil companies still suffered, though, with Premier Oil closing down 56p at 1,588, and Hardy Oil & Gas down 49p at 758.
On to the housebuilders, where despite the poor housing figures they seem to be coming off the bottom. Bellway closoed up 32.5p at 626.5p despite the firm saying that the market has gone down in the last few months, resulting in over 30% drop in reservations, and broker Numis still saying it had a 'buy' rating. Peer Taylor Wimpey closed up nearly 5p at just shy of 83p, Bovis closed up 17p at 405p, Persimmons up 8.5p at 463.5p, and Redrow closed up nearly 13p at just shy of 227p.
Balfour Beatty closed up 8p at just shy of 427p after buying the construction management company Barnhart, prompting a double smile from ABN Amro and Landsbanki, who both reiterated their 'buy' stances.
In to the High Street where retailers also bounced. Home Retail Group, who own Argos, closed up 13.5p at 252p on the back of a Seymour Pierce upgrade, whilst peer Marks & Sparks closed up 11.5p at 392p. DIY experts Kingfisher, who own B&Q, closed up 3.6p at 139.5p as investors felt this week's figures may not have been as bad as they first thought. Halfords closed up 13p at 279.5p after saying profits were up 8% to £90.2m, which was well received. Three brokers all reiterated their 'buy' stance on the popular sat-nav retailer.
Morrisons, the supermarket chain, closed down 7.5p at just shy of 285p after saying sales were slower.
Morning Market, Thursday 5th June 2008
The FTSE was up this morning, with some investors returning ahead of the interest rate decision and the US non-farm payroll figures. With the US closing down last night, buyers came back in anyway, despite the general feeling that UK interest rates will remain at 5% for the forseeable future, so to keep inflation at a manageable level.
Over the pond last night, the DJI closed down 12.37 at 12,390.48, whislt the S&P500 closed down nearly half a point at 1,377.2, and the Nasdaq down nearly 23 points at 2,503.14.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 index closed up 94.45 points at 14,341.12, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng recently closed 132 points at 24,255.29.
With the UK housing market in a little bit of a lull, to say the least, luunchtime's interest rate decision will be waited for with abated breath, although it seems everyone has resigned for another month, at least, of 5%. Halifax's housing market survey showed a 2.4% fall in May, with further price falls expected.
Back here in the London stock market, it was the banks who were cojing back in favour. The US private equity group, Texas Pacific, has given some life back to the sector as it tries to add to its B&B stake. RBS was up 8p at 258p, whilst HBOS was up 10p at 350.5p, Barclays up 10p at 362p, and B&B up 2p at 70.5p.
Housebuilders also did well early doors, depsite interest rates looking like they'll remain unchanged, with Bellway rising 12p to 606p despite saying there was a big slowdown, to the tune of 30% less reservations than last year at this time. Peers also did well, with Bovis Homes up 12p to 4-quid, Redrow up 9p at 223p, Taylor Wimpey up a penny at 79p, and Persimmon up 12p at 467p.
B&Q owner Kingfishger was up 2.4p at 138.3p, whilst Argos owner Home Retail Group was up 10p at 248.5p, and Marks & Sparks up 6p at 386.5p.
Supermarket chain Morrisons was down 8p at 284p after saying sales were slower.
The miners were down, as metal prices fell. Lonmins was down 95p at 3,359p, whiuslt Anglo was down 70p at 3,331p, BHP down 35p at 1,865p, and Rio down 93p at 5,911.
Halfords was up 8p at 274p after some good results were posted this morning.
Over the pond last night, the DJI closed down 12.37 at 12,390.48, whislt the S&P500 closed down nearly half a point at 1,377.2, and the Nasdaq down nearly 23 points at 2,503.14.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 index closed up 94.45 points at 14,341.12, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng recently closed 132 points at 24,255.29.
With the UK housing market in a little bit of a lull, to say the least, luunchtime's interest rate decision will be waited for with abated breath, although it seems everyone has resigned for another month, at least, of 5%. Halifax's housing market survey showed a 2.4% fall in May, with further price falls expected.
Back here in the London stock market, it was the banks who were cojing back in favour. The US private equity group, Texas Pacific, has given some life back to the sector as it tries to add to its B&B stake. RBS was up 8p at 258p, whilst HBOS was up 10p at 350.5p, Barclays up 10p at 362p, and B&B up 2p at 70.5p.
Housebuilders also did well early doors, depsite interest rates looking like they'll remain unchanged, with Bellway rising 12p to 606p despite saying there was a big slowdown, to the tune of 30% less reservations than last year at this time. Peers also did well, with Bovis Homes up 12p to 4-quid, Redrow up 9p at 223p, Taylor Wimpey up a penny at 79p, and Persimmon up 12p at 467p.
B&Q owner Kingfishger was up 2.4p at 138.3p, whilst Argos owner Home Retail Group was up 10p at 248.5p, and Marks & Sparks up 6p at 386.5p.
Supermarket chain Morrisons was down 8p at 284p after saying sales were slower.
The miners were down, as metal prices fell. Lonmins was down 95p at 3,359p, whiuslt Anglo was down 70p at 3,331p, BHP down 35p at 1,865p, and Rio down 93p at 5,911.
Halfords was up 8p at 274p after some good results were posted this morning.
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Market Wrap, Wednesday 4th June 2008
The FTSE closed down 87.6 poinst today at 5,970.1, which was up about 37 points from the day's low, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 10 points at 9,976.9.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was actually up about 85 points at 12,488, wjilst the S&P500 was up 8 points at 1m385, and the Nasdaq up 34 points at 2,514. The non-farm payroll figures cam ein better than expected, giving temporary relief from the woes of the banking sector, where Lehman Brothers said they are raising US$4 bln in a right issue.
Back here in London, it was the miners who were taking a bit of a psting as commodity metal prices were lower, as too was oil. ENRC closed down 48p at 1,319, Kazakhmys down 66p at 1,670, Vedanta down 102p at 2,322, and Antofagastadown 14.5p at 674.5p.
AS mentioned, oil was off its recent highs, now around the US$124 bbl level, cauisng oil heavyweights to pull back somewhat. BP closed down 23.5p at 581p, RD Shell down 60p at 2,024p, and BG Group closed down 35p at 1,230p.
Mind you, the fall in the price of the black stuff helped the airlines, with British Airways up 13p at just shy of 244p a share, having recovered from the recent lows quite well. The airline announced longhaul premium traffic was slightly up from last year, but added that short haul premium and long haul non-premium traffic remained weak. This was still better than expected. Its orange coloured peer, easyJet, closed up 19.5p at just shy of 315p on the back of its big competitor's news, as well as the lower oil price of course.
As we mentioend this morning, some bigger stocks went ex-divvy, causing the yield equivalent in the shareprice to come out. This took about 15 poiints off the FTSE level today. Those going ex-div included: Vodafone, whioch closed down 8.1p at 154.65 and National Grid, which closed down 28.5p at 720p.
On to the financials, where the Lehman Bros news was taken hard. Lehman fell 10% on the rights issue news, with many saying further bad news is to come elsewhere in the sector. UK banks were mainly down, with HBOS closing down over 11p at 340.5p,, and Barclays closing down over 8p at 352p. But Alliance & Leicester was up over 12p at 412.5p as rumours that the US private equity group, Texas Pacific, will be looking to take positions in more UK banks that Bradford & Bingley. RBS also did well, as Morgan Stanley upgraded the recently under pressure bank to 'overweight' from 'underweight', giving the sahres a needed boost of nearly 5p to 249.5p.
On to retail groups, where B&Q owner Kingfisher closed down nearly 3p at 135.9p despite being up this morning after reporting a better than expected 9% rise in 1st quarter profits.
Housebuilders had a poor day again, with Persimmons closing down over a penny at just shy of 455p after a UBS downgrade to 'sell', Bellway down 9p to 594p, and Redrow down 9.25p at 214p.
Rumours of a management buyout at Rentokill saw the shares close up 2.5p at a quid a pop.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was actually up about 85 points at 12,488, wjilst the S&P500 was up 8 points at 1m385, and the Nasdaq up 34 points at 2,514. The non-farm payroll figures cam ein better than expected, giving temporary relief from the woes of the banking sector, where Lehman Brothers said they are raising US$4 bln in a right issue.
Back here in London, it was the miners who were taking a bit of a psting as commodity metal prices were lower, as too was oil. ENRC closed down 48p at 1,319, Kazakhmys down 66p at 1,670, Vedanta down 102p at 2,322, and Antofagastadown 14.5p at 674.5p.
AS mentioned, oil was off its recent highs, now around the US$124 bbl level, cauisng oil heavyweights to pull back somewhat. BP closed down 23.5p at 581p, RD Shell down 60p at 2,024p, and BG Group closed down 35p at 1,230p.
Mind you, the fall in the price of the black stuff helped the airlines, with British Airways up 13p at just shy of 244p a share, having recovered from the recent lows quite well. The airline announced longhaul premium traffic was slightly up from last year, but added that short haul premium and long haul non-premium traffic remained weak. This was still better than expected. Its orange coloured peer, easyJet, closed up 19.5p at just shy of 315p on the back of its big competitor's news, as well as the lower oil price of course.
As we mentioend this morning, some bigger stocks went ex-divvy, causing the yield equivalent in the shareprice to come out. This took about 15 poiints off the FTSE level today. Those going ex-div included: Vodafone, whioch closed down 8.1p at 154.65 and National Grid, which closed down 28.5p at 720p.
On to the financials, where the Lehman Bros news was taken hard. Lehman fell 10% on the rights issue news, with many saying further bad news is to come elsewhere in the sector. UK banks were mainly down, with HBOS closing down over 11p at 340.5p,, and Barclays closing down over 8p at 352p. But Alliance & Leicester was up over 12p at 412.5p as rumours that the US private equity group, Texas Pacific, will be looking to take positions in more UK banks that Bradford & Bingley. RBS also did well, as Morgan Stanley upgraded the recently under pressure bank to 'overweight' from 'underweight', giving the sahres a needed boost of nearly 5p to 249.5p.
On to retail groups, where B&Q owner Kingfisher closed down nearly 3p at 135.9p despite being up this morning after reporting a better than expected 9% rise in 1st quarter profits.
Housebuilders had a poor day again, with Persimmons closing down over a penny at just shy of 455p after a UBS downgrade to 'sell', Bellway down 9p to 594p, and Redrow down 9.25p at 214p.
Rumours of a management buyout at Rentokill saw the shares close up 2.5p at a quid a pop.
Morning Market, Wednesday 4th June 2008
The FTSE was down about 65 points this morning at 5,992, whilst the FTSE 250 was also down 65 points at 9,922. Both are now under the 6k and 10k levels.
Last night over the pond the DJI closed down nearly 101 points at 12,402.85, up about 60 points up from its low, whilst the S&P500 closed down 8 points at 1,377.65 and the Nasdaq down just over 11.05 points at 2,480.48.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed up 226.40 points at 14,435.57, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down about 59 points at 24,317 by lunchtime chow time.
Staying in Asia, oil was down again to just over US$124 bbl.
Back here in London, there were a few heavyweights that went ex-div, so dragged down the FTSE somewhat. These included: National Grid, down 24p at 724p; Vodafone, down 6.5p at 156.2p; and Enterprise Inns, down 13p at 447p.
Backj to oil, where the heavyweights fell back tdue to the drop in price of the black stuff. BP was down 12p at 592p, and RD Shell was down nearly 40p at 2,045p.
The miners also suffered, with Vedanta Resources down 40p at 2,384, Xstrata down 74p at 3,971p[, and Antofagasta down 15p at 673p.
On to the housebuilders, where it was real doom and gloom. Persimmons was down another 16p at 440p after a UBS downgrade to 'sell' this morning, whilst Bellway was down 25p at 5778p, and Redrow 15p at 208p.
On to financials, where Man Group was down 10p to 614 after an Investec downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy'.
News from Lehman Brothers, who have said they are looking at a $4 bln rights issue, caused their shares to fall 10%. This didn't help the banks, with HBOS falling 12p to 340p, Barclays down 7p to 353p, but RBS actually risiong 2p to 247p after an upgrade to 'overweight' from 'underweight'.
British Airways was up 2p at 232.75p as hopes of some decent passenger numbers were due today.
On to retailing, where Kingfisher was up a penny to 139.8p after a near 9% increase in 1st quarter profits. Broker Seymour Pierce liked the nbews, upgrading its stance to 'hold' from 'sell'.
Last night over the pond the DJI closed down nearly 101 points at 12,402.85, up about 60 points up from its low, whilst the S&P500 closed down 8 points at 1,377.65 and the Nasdaq down just over 11.05 points at 2,480.48.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed up 226.40 points at 14,435.57, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down about 59 points at 24,317 by lunchtime chow time.
Staying in Asia, oil was down again to just over US$124 bbl.
Back here in London, there were a few heavyweights that went ex-div, so dragged down the FTSE somewhat. These included: National Grid, down 24p at 724p; Vodafone, down 6.5p at 156.2p; and Enterprise Inns, down 13p at 447p.
Backj to oil, where the heavyweights fell back tdue to the drop in price of the black stuff. BP was down 12p at 592p, and RD Shell was down nearly 40p at 2,045p.
The miners also suffered, with Vedanta Resources down 40p at 2,384, Xstrata down 74p at 3,971p[, and Antofagasta down 15p at 673p.
On to the housebuilders, where it was real doom and gloom. Persimmons was down another 16p at 440p after a UBS downgrade to 'sell' this morning, whilst Bellway was down 25p at 5778p, and Redrow 15p at 208p.
On to financials, where Man Group was down 10p to 614 after an Investec downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy'.
News from Lehman Brothers, who have said they are looking at a $4 bln rights issue, caused their shares to fall 10%. This didn't help the banks, with HBOS falling 12p to 340p, Barclays down 7p to 353p, but RBS actually risiong 2p to 247p after an upgrade to 'overweight' from 'underweight'.
British Airways was up 2p at 232.75p as hopes of some decent passenger numbers were due today.
On to retailing, where Kingfisher was up a penny to 139.8p after a near 9% increase in 1st quarter profits. Broker Seymour Pierce liked the nbews, upgrading its stance to 'hold' from 'sell'.
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Market Wrap, Tuesday 3rd June 2008
The FTSE ended the day up 50.1 points at 6,057.7, whilst the FTSE 250 ended up 58.6 points at 9,986.9.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up 20 points at 12,524, whilst the S&P500 was up 5 points at 1,391, and the Nasdaq up 16 points at 2,508. Fed Res chairman, Bernanke, said from Barcelona that he reckons the economy will pick up later this year. News that factory orders were up 1.1%, when expected to be under 1%, was also received well.
Back here in London, we saw some of the banks bounce after yesterday's poor Bradford & Bingley news. RBS closed up nearly 19p at just shy of 245p on rumours that there were some trying to build a decent holding in the bank, and also that many short positions wer ebeing closed before the result of the bank's £12 bln rights issue. It seems that RBS isn't struggling to get out of the offer, and that investors are taking up the rights. Peers also had a good day, with Lloyds TSB up 11.5p at just shy of 389p, and yesterday's hot potato, B&B, closing up 1.25p at 68.25p. Broker Collins Stewart gave B&B a new target of just 60p, down from 135p, and Morgan Stanley reckoned 50p was a better target, down from 82p. Not all banks did so well, though, with HBOS closing down over 8p at just shy of 352p, Barclays down over 5p at 360.25p, and Alliance & Leicester down nearly 3p at 400.25p.
Staying with financials, insurer Prudential closed up 15.5p at 670.5p after Merrills said it was more favoured than Arriva, whilst Royal Sun Alliance closed up 3.4p at 137.8p after ABN Amrto gave a higher target of 164p, up 9p from its previous target of 157p.
On to retailers, where Home Retail Group, who own Homebase and Argos, closed up 14.5p at just shy of 243p after a Seymour Pierce upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold'. Peer Kingfishger, who own B&Q, also looked good, closing up 3.5p at 137.6p.
Staying with retailers, Carphone Warehouse closed up 9p at 238p with rumours still around that someone will come in with a bid.
On to oil, where AMEC closed up 35.5p at 884 after saying it was helping BP with some project management on offshore work. Broker Evo reitereated its 'add' stance and 9-quid target.
On to minres, where ENRC closed down 77p at 1,367 on the back of rumours that fellow national Kazakhmys may sell its stake in ENRC after its lock-in period expires. Peer Vedanta also had a bad day, closing down 81p at 2,424, and peers followed too, with BHP closing down 17p at 1,931 and Rio Tinto down 41p at 6,129.
On to housebuilders, where Barratt Developments closed down 11p at 156.5p, Bellway down 20p at 603p, and Redrow closed down 9.5p at 223.25p.
Internet gaming firm PartyGaming closed down 22.5p at 277.5p after rumours said that a compromise deal with the US Dept of Justice were a bit speculative and presumptious.
the lower oil price helped easyJet, who closed up nearly 10p at 295.5p, and peer Ryanair posted some decetn figures for the year, closing up €0.23 at 2.86.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up 20 points at 12,524, whilst the S&P500 was up 5 points at 1,391, and the Nasdaq up 16 points at 2,508. Fed Res chairman, Bernanke, said from Barcelona that he reckons the economy will pick up later this year. News that factory orders were up 1.1%, when expected to be under 1%, was also received well.
Back here in London, we saw some of the banks bounce after yesterday's poor Bradford & Bingley news. RBS closed up nearly 19p at just shy of 245p on rumours that there were some trying to build a decent holding in the bank, and also that many short positions wer ebeing closed before the result of the bank's £12 bln rights issue. It seems that RBS isn't struggling to get out of the offer, and that investors are taking up the rights. Peers also had a good day, with Lloyds TSB up 11.5p at just shy of 389p, and yesterday's hot potato, B&B, closing up 1.25p at 68.25p. Broker Collins Stewart gave B&B a new target of just 60p, down from 135p, and Morgan Stanley reckoned 50p was a better target, down from 82p. Not all banks did so well, though, with HBOS closing down over 8p at just shy of 352p, Barclays down over 5p at 360.25p, and Alliance & Leicester down nearly 3p at 400.25p.
Staying with financials, insurer Prudential closed up 15.5p at 670.5p after Merrills said it was more favoured than Arriva, whilst Royal Sun Alliance closed up 3.4p at 137.8p after ABN Amrto gave a higher target of 164p, up 9p from its previous target of 157p.
On to retailers, where Home Retail Group, who own Homebase and Argos, closed up 14.5p at just shy of 243p after a Seymour Pierce upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold'. Peer Kingfishger, who own B&Q, also looked good, closing up 3.5p at 137.6p.
Staying with retailers, Carphone Warehouse closed up 9p at 238p with rumours still around that someone will come in with a bid.
On to oil, where AMEC closed up 35.5p at 884 after saying it was helping BP with some project management on offshore work. Broker Evo reitereated its 'add' stance and 9-quid target.
On to minres, where ENRC closed down 77p at 1,367 on the back of rumours that fellow national Kazakhmys may sell its stake in ENRC after its lock-in period expires. Peer Vedanta also had a bad day, closing down 81p at 2,424, and peers followed too, with BHP closing down 17p at 1,931 and Rio Tinto down 41p at 6,129.
On to housebuilders, where Barratt Developments closed down 11p at 156.5p, Bellway down 20p at 603p, and Redrow closed down 9.5p at 223.25p.
Internet gaming firm PartyGaming closed down 22.5p at 277.5p after rumours said that a compromise deal with the US Dept of Justice were a bit speculative and presumptious.
the lower oil price helped easyJet, who closed up nearly 10p at 295.5p, and peer Ryanair posted some decetn figures for the year, closing up €0.23 at 2.86.
Morning Market, Tuesday 3rd June 2008
The FTSE was up about 21 points this morning at 6,029, whilst the FTSE 250 was up 38 points at 9,965. The banks seem to be coming off the floor.
Over the pond, last night the DJI closed down 134.5 points at 12,503.82, whilst the S&P500 closed down nearly 5 points at 1,385.67, and the Nasdaq down 31 points at 2,491.53. Economic weakness seems to be the feelings of woe. Today we see the US factory orders, with a slight dip from the April figure.
In the Far East today, following on from New York the Nikkei 225closed down nearly 231 points at 14,209.17, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng recently closed down over 457 points 24,373.90.
Staying in the Far East, oil was down again as concerns over world economy will effect demand for the black stuff. Light sweet (Jul del) was down another half a buck to US£127.30 bbl, whilst Brent North Sea crude (Jul del) was down over 70 cents at at the same level - US$127.30 bbl.
Back here in London, it was the banks that were bouncing, even after the bad news fro Bradford & Bingley yesterday. This morning we saw B&B actually up a penny at 67.5p, whilst peers were up even more, with RBS up 7p at 233p, and Lloyds TSB was up 7p at 384p, and Alliance & Leicester was up 2p at 405p.
On to transport, where the airlines liked the oil price falling back. British Airways was up only a penny at 230p, but others did better. Ryanair Holdings had announced some decent full-year profits of €480.9m, up from €401.4m the previous year, and easyJet was up 5p to the good at 290p.
Back to oil & gas, BG Group was up 23p at 1,264 after announcing it announced it has signed two liquefied natural gas agreements with Petrobas of Brazil. Other oil heavyweights didn't do as well this morning as the oil price affected both BP, down 2p at 602p, and RD Shell down 4p at 2,078.
The miners backed off after their recent interest, with Rio Tinto down 46p at 6,124, Vedanta Resources down 45p at 2,460, and Anto off 2p at 690p.
Findel was down 2p at 225p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral', and a news price target down to 180p from 330p.
Over the pond, last night the DJI closed down 134.5 points at 12,503.82, whilst the S&P500 closed down nearly 5 points at 1,385.67, and the Nasdaq down 31 points at 2,491.53. Economic weakness seems to be the feelings of woe. Today we see the US factory orders, with a slight dip from the April figure.
In the Far East today, following on from New York the Nikkei 225closed down nearly 231 points at 14,209.17, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng recently closed down over 457 points 24,373.90.
Staying in the Far East, oil was down again as concerns over world economy will effect demand for the black stuff. Light sweet (Jul del) was down another half a buck to US£127.30 bbl, whilst Brent North Sea crude (Jul del) was down over 70 cents at at the same level - US$127.30 bbl.
Back here in London, it was the banks that were bouncing, even after the bad news fro Bradford & Bingley yesterday. This morning we saw B&B actually up a penny at 67.5p, whilst peers were up even more, with RBS up 7p at 233p, and Lloyds TSB was up 7p at 384p, and Alliance & Leicester was up 2p at 405p.
On to transport, where the airlines liked the oil price falling back. British Airways was up only a penny at 230p, but others did better. Ryanair Holdings had announced some decent full-year profits of €480.9m, up from €401.4m the previous year, and easyJet was up 5p to the good at 290p.
Back to oil & gas, BG Group was up 23p at 1,264 after announcing it announced it has signed two liquefied natural gas agreements with Petrobas of Brazil. Other oil heavyweights didn't do as well this morning as the oil price affected both BP, down 2p at 602p, and RD Shell down 4p at 2,078.
The miners backed off after their recent interest, with Rio Tinto down 46p at 6,124, Vedanta Resources down 45p at 2,460, and Anto off 2p at 690p.
Findel was down 2p at 225p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral', and a news price target down to 180p from 330p.
Monday, 2 June 2008
BATS - Worth a Look...?
A Fair old hammer candle today on British American Tobacco. The 20 & 50 MAs closing togther, and look like the signal if it breaks. This has bounced off the 200-day twice lately. Worth watching.
Premier Farnell - maybe the odd equity can look like a 'long'...?
Whilst it is more than difficult to pick anything ‘on the up’ at the moment, Premier Farnell looks like it’s bounced off the 200-day MA. What happens with the 20 & 50day MAs will determine if the strength has really come back in with buying interest. The RSI has broken back through the 30 level. Maybe worth monitoring, and possibly taking interest if it breaks 170p, the previous high. We’re not holding our breath, though, but felt we should point out the odd equity possibilty for those who still dabble with a swing trade or two. Watch your stops.
Market Wrap, 2nd June 2008
The FTSE 100 closed down 45.9 points today at 6,007.6, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 121 points at 9,928.3. We are actually pleased the FTSE broke back through the 6k level, as once under we thought it may stay there.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down about 156 points at 12,482, whilst the S&P500 was down 14 points at 1,386, and the Nasdaq down 34 points at 2,489. Quite a drop today, which we predicted this morning in the Live Trading Room.
Back here in London it was Bradford & Bingley that was the main topic today. As we mentioned this morning, B&B issued a profits warning, said it was lowering its issue price of the rights issue from 82p to 55p, the CEO was 'stepping down', and a US private equity group was buying 20% of the bank. The shares closed down over 21p at 67p, down nearly a quirater. Kleinwort jumped in by downgrading the bank to a 'sell' from 'add'. Peer HBOS also had a poor day, closing down 10% on the day at 360p, off 40p. The bank had tried to reassure investors by saying that trading was satisfactory and that its £4 bln rights issue was going to plan. The B&B news probably hindered the situation, one might speculate. Peers followed, with Barclays down 9.5p at 365.5p, and Alliance & Leicester down over 22p at 403.
The miners did ok as metal commodity prices were strong, with BHP Billiton up 34p at 1,948 on the day, and Rio Tinto up 115p to 6,170, with both enjoying the news we mentioend this morning that the Chinese may up the iron ore purchase price by the region of 70%.
Tullow Oil also had a good day, closing up 22.5p at 912.5 after Morgan Stanley sung its praises and upped its target to 1,230p from 1,090. Dana Petroleum also did well, up 47p at 1,877, after saying it had made a significant gas find in Egypt, and also on the back of Morgan Stanley comments.
British Energy closed up 14p at 748 after rumours that Spanish energy company Iberdrola SA had finished sniffing and had actually made a bid of around the 885p per share level. Deutsche Bank then reminded everyone of its 'buy' stance and raised its target to 775p, up from 750p. Imperial Energy jumped 60p to 1,040 after saying that it had found new oil at its Kiev Eganskoye field. UBS promptly raised its target to 15-quid from 1,450.
On to building, where home construction group Persimmon closed down 14p at 467.25p, probably due to the news that mortgage approvals were at onkly 58,000 for April, a new record low. Persimmons looks like it will be booted out of the FTSE 100 later this month, where it will join Barratt Developments, who were down 15p on the day at 167.5p.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) was down 68.5p at 958.5p on the day after Morgan Stanley reiterated its 'underweight' rating and cut its target to 945p from 1,060.
Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down about 156 points at 12,482, whilst the S&P500 was down 14 points at 1,386, and the Nasdaq down 34 points at 2,489. Quite a drop today, which we predicted this morning in the Live Trading Room.
Back here in London it was Bradford & Bingley that was the main topic today. As we mentioned this morning, B&B issued a profits warning, said it was lowering its issue price of the rights issue from 82p to 55p, the CEO was 'stepping down', and a US private equity group was buying 20% of the bank. The shares closed down over 21p at 67p, down nearly a quirater. Kleinwort jumped in by downgrading the bank to a 'sell' from 'add'. Peer HBOS also had a poor day, closing down 10% on the day at 360p, off 40p. The bank had tried to reassure investors by saying that trading was satisfactory and that its £4 bln rights issue was going to plan. The B&B news probably hindered the situation, one might speculate. Peers followed, with Barclays down 9.5p at 365.5p, and Alliance & Leicester down over 22p at 403.
The miners did ok as metal commodity prices were strong, with BHP Billiton up 34p at 1,948 on the day, and Rio Tinto up 115p to 6,170, with both enjoying the news we mentioend this morning that the Chinese may up the iron ore purchase price by the region of 70%.
Tullow Oil also had a good day, closing up 22.5p at 912.5 after Morgan Stanley sung its praises and upped its target to 1,230p from 1,090. Dana Petroleum also did well, up 47p at 1,877, after saying it had made a significant gas find in Egypt, and also on the back of Morgan Stanley comments.
British Energy closed up 14p at 748 after rumours that Spanish energy company Iberdrola SA had finished sniffing and had actually made a bid of around the 885p per share level. Deutsche Bank then reminded everyone of its 'buy' stance and raised its target to 775p, up from 750p. Imperial Energy jumped 60p to 1,040 after saying that it had found new oil at its Kiev Eganskoye field. UBS promptly raised its target to 15-quid from 1,450.
On to building, where home construction group Persimmon closed down 14p at 467.25p, probably due to the news that mortgage approvals were at onkly 58,000 for April, a new record low. Persimmons looks like it will be booted out of the FTSE 100 later this month, where it will join Barratt Developments, who were down 15p on the day at 167.5p.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) was down 68.5p at 958.5p on the day after Morgan Stanley reiterated its 'underweight' rating and cut its target to 945p from 1,060.
Morning Market, Monday 2nd June 2008
The FTSE started thre week on a bit of a downer, and was down 48 points in its first hour at 6,011, whilst the FTSE 250 was down 123 points at 9,929. We don't see this as positive, as a break under 6,000 will become a resistance level, we feel.
Over the pond on Friday, the DJI closed down nearly 8 points at 12,638.32, whiclst the S&P500 closed up just over 2 points at 1,400.38, and the Nasdaq up 14.34 points at 2,522.66.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed up 101.60 points at 14,440.14, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng recently closed at 24,831.36, up 298.24 points on the day.
Back here in London, the banks were taking a hit again after the Bradford & Bingley news. The bank issued a profit warning and then said that it was going to have to lower the price of the rights issue, down to 55p from 82p. The bank also said that US private equity firm, Texas Pacific Group, will be investing £150m for a 20% stake in the bank. It then finished by the small mention of the CEO was stepping down. Needless to say B&B shares fell, and were down nearly 20p at 69p. Peers fell too as a reaction, with Lloyds TSB down 11p at 373p, Alliance & Leicester down 26p at 399p, HBOS down 22p at at 378, Barclyas off 12p at 363p, and RBS down 7p at 2211.
On to utilities, where Severn Trent was down 23p to 1,434 after weekend press reports that it could be forced to pay up to £70m following a criminal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office ("SFO") over allegations that it provided false data on leaks to Ofwat, the industry regulator. Peers fell as a reaction, with Northumbrian Water down 4p at 323p.
Tesco was down over 8p at 406.6p after weekend press reports that it is close to finalising a £1 bln buy out of RBS's share of their Tesco Personal Finance joint venture.
Unilever was down a pennyat 1,670p after weekend press reports that the company has sold its Sainsbury's in-store dry cleaning company that had gone in to administration to the shoe repair outfit Timpson.
The miners had a better start, with commodity prices gaining interst again. BHP was up 30p at 1,944, and Rio Tinto up 70p at 6,125. Rumours say that these two giants will be getting something like a 70% increase on their iron ore sales from China. It is said that the Chinese will pay a decent freight premium as it is much cheaper to ship the iron ore from Australia than from Brazil, where China gets lots of ore from Vale. Peer Anglo American was up 25p at 3,444p, and Xstrata up 7p at 3,996. One casualty in the mining sector was Vedanta Resources, who were down 40p at 2,459p after it said one of its subsidiaries had agreed to purchase the operating assets of Asarco, the US-based copper producer, for US$2.6 bln cash.
Oil was down on concrens of worlkd economy, with Light Sweet (Jul del) down to US$127.3 bbl, and Brent crude (Jul del) actually higher at US$127.9 bbl.
The oil heavyweighhts reacted, with BP down 8p at 6-quid, and RD Shell down 12p at 2,138p. Then news from BG Group, who were down 30p at 1,236p, said that Origin Energy, the Aussie power unit, had rejected its A$13.6 bln bid.
Pub group Mitchells & Bulters was down 8p pence to 316p after Goldman Sachs reminded everyone of its 'sell' rating and 290p target.
Over the pond on Friday, the DJI closed down nearly 8 points at 12,638.32, whiclst the S&P500 closed up just over 2 points at 1,400.38, and the Nasdaq up 14.34 points at 2,522.66.
In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed up 101.60 points at 14,440.14, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng recently closed at 24,831.36, up 298.24 points on the day.
Back here in London, the banks were taking a hit again after the Bradford & Bingley news. The bank issued a profit warning and then said that it was going to have to lower the price of the rights issue, down to 55p from 82p. The bank also said that US private equity firm, Texas Pacific Group, will be investing £150m for a 20% stake in the bank. It then finished by the small mention of the CEO was stepping down. Needless to say B&B shares fell, and were down nearly 20p at 69p. Peers fell too as a reaction, with Lloyds TSB down 11p at 373p, Alliance & Leicester down 26p at 399p, HBOS down 22p at at 378, Barclyas off 12p at 363p, and RBS down 7p at 2211.
On to utilities, where Severn Trent was down 23p to 1,434 after weekend press reports that it could be forced to pay up to £70m following a criminal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office ("SFO") over allegations that it provided false data on leaks to Ofwat, the industry regulator. Peers fell as a reaction, with Northumbrian Water down 4p at 323p.
Tesco was down over 8p at 406.6p after weekend press reports that it is close to finalising a £1 bln buy out of RBS's share of their Tesco Personal Finance joint venture.
Unilever was down a pennyat 1,670p after weekend press reports that the company has sold its Sainsbury's in-store dry cleaning company that had gone in to administration to the shoe repair outfit Timpson.
The miners had a better start, with commodity prices gaining interst again. BHP was up 30p at 1,944, and Rio Tinto up 70p at 6,125. Rumours say that these two giants will be getting something like a 70% increase on their iron ore sales from China. It is said that the Chinese will pay a decent freight premium as it is much cheaper to ship the iron ore from Australia than from Brazil, where China gets lots of ore from Vale. Peer Anglo American was up 25p at 3,444p, and Xstrata up 7p at 3,996. One casualty in the mining sector was Vedanta Resources, who were down 40p at 2,459p after it said one of its subsidiaries had agreed to purchase the operating assets of Asarco, the US-based copper producer, for US$2.6 bln cash.
Oil was down on concrens of worlkd economy, with Light Sweet (Jul del) down to US$127.3 bbl, and Brent crude (Jul del) actually higher at US$127.9 bbl.
The oil heavyweighhts reacted, with BP down 8p at 6-quid, and RD Shell down 12p at 2,138p. Then news from BG Group, who were down 30p at 1,236p, said that Origin Energy, the Aussie power unit, had rejected its A$13.6 bln bid.
Pub group Mitchells & Bulters was down 8p pence to 316p after Goldman Sachs reminded everyone of its 'sell' rating and 290p target.
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