Equity Indices reliant on Central Bank Action August 13, 2012 LIKE a petulant schoolchild, it’s about this time in the summer holidays when the equity markets run out of steam and sit around lethargically complaining of boredom. Yesterday was a slow trading day, with all exchanges seeing their lowest volumes of 2012 so far. “With most of the FTSE 100 biggies having reported already, any [...]
Sterling could win from London’s Olympic success August 13, 2012 FX360 HOSTING the Olympics is an honour for both the city and the country where it is held. One of the major benefits is the financial investment – sporting facilities are built or upgraded, public transport is overhauled, and businesses flock to the area. But what happens after the stadiums empty and the medals are [...]
THE TIPSTER | Talvivaara wants to finish a bad Run August 13, 2012 SHAREHOLDERS of Finnish miner Talvivaara won’t like looking at a chart for the year – it shows a continuation of 2011’s sharp downtrend. The share price has recently plunged to new depths. Continual forecast downgrades and worries about commodity prices have hurt the stock, and it will take a significant turnaround in outlook for the [...]
Trading on your relative strength August 13, 2012 YOU will often hear a stock or instrument being described as overbought or oversold. However, neither has a definition that is set in stone. You could have the most flea-bitten company listed on the London Stock Exchange and it could still be oversold and worth a buy. On the other hand, household names, such as [...]
Analyst picks for 13 August 2012 August 13, 2012 CURRENCY STRATEGIST CHRIS VECCHIO My pick: Short Aussie-dollar and Aussie-Kiwi dollar, long dollar-yen Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: A few hours to a few days Shorts were added to my existing Aussie dollar-dollar position, raising the average to $1.0585. The commodity currencies (the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand dollars) appear [...]
LONDON REPORT August 12, 2012 STANDARD Life is set to end the life insurance reporting season tomorrow, following a solid first quarter where assets under administration rose more than expected. The Edinburgh group is hoping for a boost soon from auto-enrolment, where employees will be automatically enrolled into their existing employers’ pension scheme or a new personal account. It is [...]
WALL ST THE WEEK AHEAD August 12, 2012 IT’S another one of those moments that always follow a big move in the stock market: Either you’re a believer – or you’re not. Right now, the market has its fair share of both. The S&P 500 is up 12 per cent so far this year. Through July, it had its best first seven months [...]
Battle of the cabs: Hailing competition in London’s transport August 12, 2012 WHEN I lived in Monaco, I had Ferraris. Now, living in London, I have a basic car but barely use it. The hassle of parking and traffic have made me a cab and minicab user, and I’ve recently noticed interesting things going on in their business world. Cabs have had two unique selling points. Unlike [...]
Success and failure: The line is very fine August 12, 2012 THE road to success is not only long and winding, but it can also be rather rocky. There are always obstacles to trip you up along the way – and many are outside of your control. Consider the example of London businesses selling bicycles. When the Mayor of London launched his eponymous Boris bikes with [...]
Standard Chartered lifts the FTSE in Olympic-thinned trading session August 9, 2012 Banking stocks lifted the benchmark FTSE- 00 to its best finish since early April yesterday, led by a resurgent Standard Chartered Bank. Investors were impressed with chief executive Peter Sands’ robust defense of allegations of malfeance lodged by US regulators, and pushed the shares 3.6 per cent higher. However RBS bucked the trend, sliding 1.3 per [...]