Markets
London - UK stocks closed higher on Thursday, boosted by strong banks ahead of Friday’s European stress test results, and by firmer metals and oil as US stocks rallied on earnings and data. The FTSE100 closed 99.17 points higher at 5313.81, ending above 5,300 for the first time since May 18, the day before Germany introduced a short selling ban at the height of the euro-zone sovereign debt crisis.

Posted: July 26th, 2010 under Asset Management.
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Markets
London - UK stocks closed higher in Wednesday, following upbeat corporate earnings from the US and positive mergers and acquisitions sentiment spurred a rebound, led by banks and commodities. The FTSE100 closed 75.18 points higher at 5214.64. US banks were stronger as Morgan Stanley reported higher than expected second quarter profit. Barclays rose 1.9 percent, with investors also awaiting the results of European bank stress tests, due tomorrow.

Posted: July 22nd, 2010 under Asset Management.
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Markets
London - The FTSE 100 edged 8.82 points lower to 5,139.46 yesterday. Cable & Wireless Worldwide was the standout loser after warning that trading had been hit by a significant slowdown in the UK public sector following the government’s emergency budget in June. Shares in the company tumbled 17.4% as a result and knocked BT 3.2% on fears it will also suffer. Mining shares limited declines as copper rallied on the LME. Rio Tinto, Vedanta Resources and Xstrata all added between 3.7 and 4.1% and were the top three performers for the day.

Posted: July 21st, 2010 under Asset Management.
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Markets
London - The FTSE 100 fell 10.57 points to 5,148.28 yesterday, as gains by International Power were offset by a drop in BP shares. International Power rallied 10% after announcing that GDF Suez is in early talks to combine some assets with itself, creating a bigger London-traded company majority owned by GDF. In further deal news out side of the FTSE 100, Tomkins surged 28% higher after saying that Onex Corp, Canada’s biggest publicly traded buyout firm, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board are in the late stages of reviewing it, after indicating they may bid about £2.9 billion. Back in the FTSE 100, BP sank 4.4% after engineers’ detected seepage on the ocean floor, which could mean problems with the cap that has stopped oil gushing into the ocean.

Posted: July 20th, 2010 under Asset Management.
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Markets
London - UK stocks closed lower on Friday with weaker banks, dented by lacklustre results from US peers dragging the index to its lowest close in a week, while commodity stocks also retreated on a gloomy macro-economic outlook. The FTSE100 closed 52.44 points lower at 5158.85.

Posted: July 19th, 2010 under Asset Management.
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