Markets

London - The FTSE 100 is currently 5.99 points lower at 4,288.04. United Utilities leads the faller, down 2.8%, after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to Neutral fro Overweight and cut its price target from 850p to 580p. Wolseley tops the risers board, adding 5.8%, after saying that Ian Meakins was replacing its chief executive Chip Hornsby. Meakins was recently Chief Executive of foreign exchange and payments business Travelex Holdings and ran Alliance UniChem. Mining stocks are also prominent following rising metal prices. BHP Billiton adds 1.8%, Vedanta Resources gains 1.5% and Kazakhmys advances 1.1%.

Posted: June 30th, 2009 under Asset Management.
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Markets

London - The FTSE 100 is currently 8.76 points higher at 4,249.77. Lloyds gains 3.2% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to its Conviction Buy list. Insurance broker, Admiral, advances 3.2% after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to Outperform from Neutral. Serco rises 2.2% after reporting good first half figures and saying it was on track to meet its 2009 forecast.

Posted: June 29th, 2009 under Asset Management.
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Markets

London - The FTSE 100 is currently 38.59 points higher at 4,291.16. Mining stocks help lift the market with Eurasian Natural Resources, Antofagasta, Xstrata and Kazakhmys all gaining between 2% and 4%. Oil companies also benefit after the price of the commodity rose. Royal Dutch Shell gains 1.5%. There was bad news however for BSkyB after Ofcom said the pay TV group should make its premium channels available to other content providers on a wholesale basis. Shares are currently 0.8% lower.

Posted: June 26th, 2009 under Asset Management.
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Markets
London - The FTSE 100 is currently 11.05 points lower at 4,268.93. Lonmin tops the fallers, down 2.4%, after saying it has shut down a South African furnace for repairs. It is suggested that the miner may as third parties to process the ore it mines in the interim. BP is in focus after saying Ericsson CEO Carl-Henris Svanberg will replace Peter Sutherland as its chairman from January 1 2010. Also, Indonesia’s state energy firm Pertamina has agreed to buy BP’s stake in an offshore oil and gas block in West Java for $280 million

Posted: June 25th, 2009 under Asset Management.
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Markets

London - The FTSE 100 is currently 3.46 points lower at 4,226.56. Friends Provident and Experian lead the fallers, off 4.4% and 2.8% respectively, after going ex-dividend. GlaxoSmithKline falls 1.6% after saying that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration declined to approve its nausea drug Rezonic. Anglo American tops the risers’ board, up 3.5%, after the miner revived the prospect of a sale of heavy building materials group Tarmac, its most out-of-place division according to the Financial Times. Hammerson and British Land both add more than 2% after Credit Suisse raised its weighting on UK commercial property sector to overweight from benchmark weight. Smiths Group advances 2.6% after Morgan Stanley resumed coverage of the firm at a rating of Overweight.

Posted: June 24th, 2009 under Asset Management.
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