FTSE 100 down on weak Chinese data September 20, 2012 The FTSE 100 fell in early trading this morning, as the miners that rose on the blue chip index yesterday fell on weak manufacturing data from China, which spurred concerns about demand for the oil and metals market. Miner Ferrexpo, steelmaker Evraz and Aquarius Platinum led the fallers, down 5.5, 5.37 and 4.92 per cent [...]
FSA flagged up Diamond flaws September 19, 2012 BOB Diamond and Barclays chairman Marcus Agius were both warned in 2010 that the bank’s new chief executive could be undermined by the Libor-fixing investigation, according to official documents published yesterday. But the bank and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) still declared Diamond a suitable person to run a major bank, allowing him to take [...]
FTSE 100 rebounds on Japan’s stimulus September 19, 2012 The blue chip index opened up this morning, as investors were encouraged by the Bank of Japan’s decision to extend its asset purchase programme by 10 trillion yen. Miners led the index up in early trading, as investors were also buoyed by the end of the strike at Lonmin’s Marikana mine. Ferrexpo added 4.74 per [...]
Barclays and Macquarie to help fund London wind farm work September 18, 2012 THE WORLD’S biggest offshore wind farm came a step closer to completion yesterday as an array of engineers and financiers were picked to fund and run the power lines linking the site to land. Blue Transmission, a consortium made up of Macquarie, a Barclays infrastructure fund, Mitsubishi and Frontier Power, have preferred bidder status to [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching jobs September 18, 2012 Barclays Tom Wood has been appointed head of professional services at the banking group. He joined Barclays in 2007 as a relationship director, and most recently spent three and half years as corporate director and deputy head of its professional services team. Wood has also held roles at RBS. Jupiter Asset Management Andrew Clark has [...]
Miners and financials fall on the FTSE 100 September 18, 2012 The blue chip index sank in early trading, as headline mining and financial shares pulled it down. Electrical connections provider Volex was down by more than 30 per cent in early trading as it announced it expects full-year profit and revenue to fall short of expectations. Miners Ferrexpo and Eurasian fell by 4.68 per cent [...]
Iconic Hamleys stores sold to French group September 18, 2012 BRITISH toy shop Hamleys was yesterday sold to French toymaker Groupe Ludendo for £60m. The family-owned French giant has taken the 252-year-old business out of the hands of failed Icelandic lender Landsbanki, which last year rejected a £60m offer from the Bahraini investment bank Global Banking Corporation. “We are delighted to be acquiring Hamleys today,” [...]
Learning how to live with open-ended QE September 17, 2012 FEDERAL Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke last week did what the markets had been waiting for. He announced that the US central bank would be rolling out another round of its controversial quantitative easing program (QE3). The Fed will commit to monthly asset purchases of $40bn (£ 24bn) until a substantial improvement is seen in the [...]
FTSE 100 slips after touching highs last week September 17, 2012 The main share index opened down this morning, as it retreated after touching six-month highs on Friday thanks to the US Federal Reserve’s annoucement of unlimited stimulus. Miners led the index down, as slowing growth in China forced base metal prices lower. Ophir Energy lost 4.06 per cent in early trading, despite it announcing better-than-expected [...]
Sweden fears bank union will hit its top institution September 17, 2012 SWEDEN became the latest country to oppose EU banking union plans over the weekend, joining Germany in rejecting parts of the latest plan to centralise power in the Eurozone. The move could scupper the European Commission’s plans – it had hoped the new setup would be in place by the end of this year, an [...]