Miners and Vodafone drag but banks offer some cheer November 10, 2009 BRITAIN’S leading share index ticked down 0.1 per cent yesterday, ending a four-day winning run, as weakness in miners and Vodafone offset strength in banks, underpinned by a strong update from HSBC. The FTSE 100 closed 4.63 points lower at 5,230.55, after hitting a two-week high earlier in the session. “After last week’s slew of [...]
DOW SURGES TO THIRTEEN MONTH HIGH November 9, 2009 GLOBALmarkets rallied yesterday after investors were buoyed by an improving global economy, as gold surged and the dollar weakened. A broad rally in the US sent the Dow to its highest close in thirteen months, after the Group of 20 ministers in Scotland pledged to keep interest rates low throughout the major world economies at [...]
THE LONDON REPORT November 4, 2009 LONDON’S leading shares ended 1.4 per cent higher yesterday, boosted by a rebound from miners and banks, with retailers Next and Marks & Spencer also higher after posting forecast-beating figures. At the close, the FTSE 100 was up 70.68 points at 5,107.89, recouping all of Tuesday’s losses when the index fell 1.3 per cent to [...]
New Merc is in an (E) class of its own November 3, 2009 I HAD a nice massage today, while driving a Mercedes through the forests on the outskirts of Wiesbaden. We reviewed the new E Class Coupe recently and this wagon is from the same grown-up stable. It’s the workhorse of the family, and just the thing for taking the children back to prison after half term [...]
Banking shake-up gives the markets a case of the jitters November 3, 2009 BRITAIN’S top share index fell to its lowest closing level in a month yesterday, led down by banks after shake-ups at Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds and poor results from Swiss peer UBS The FTSE 100 closed 67.29 points or 1.3 per cent weaker at 5,037.21, having surrendered the 5,000 level for the first [...]
BGGroup’s poor results push FTSE100 to three week low October 28, 2009 BRITAIN’s top shares fell 2.3 per cent to hit a three-week closing low yesterday, dragged down by falls in energy stocks after BG Group posted a sharp drop in net profit, while miners tracked weaker metals. The market also came under pressure on data showing new US homes sales unexpectedly tumbled in September, their first [...]
Citi rainmaker King joins Barclays Capital October 27, 2009 BARCLAYS Capital, the fast-growing division of Barclays that includes the US operations of fallen Lehman Brothers, has hired former Citigroup deal maker Tom King. King, who quit Citigroup five weeks ago saying he wanted to “pursue other interests”, was named co-head of corporate finance reporting to head of global investment banking Hugh “Skip” McGee. The [...]
Going green in Tokyo October 27, 2009 TOKYO. I bet a good few of you reading this page will have been to this city. It’s my first time here, I’ve been itching to go for years and finally I find myself staring out of my 28th floor hotel room and across the sprawling metropolis that is Japan’s capital. In the more densely [...]
Weak banks and miners pull FTSEdown by one per cent October 26, 2009 THE FTSE 100 share index ended 1 per cent lower yesterday, with mining and energy stocks suffering as the US dollar rose and commodity prices fell, while a sharp decline in ING put pressure on financials. The index ended down 50.83 points at 5,191.74, having risen as high as 5,281.12 earlier in the session. It [...]
BHP increases output of iron as demand picks up October 21, 2009 MINING giant BHP Billiton upped its quarterly iron ore production to a record high for the third quarter, it said yesterday. Production of the metal went up by 11 per cent to 30.1m tonnes, as economic conditions pick up, particularly in China. Petroleum output from BHP was also at a record high as its projects [...]