Greece and miners’ rally help London surge to record high – London Report February 24, 2015 Britain’s top equity index yesterday hit a record high as a rally in mining companies helped the three-decade-old blue chip index to surpass its previous high, set in late 1999. Reports that Greece had secured a lifeline from its creditors and increasing belief that the UK’s economic recovery was gaining momentum also helped the index [...]
Children’s Fund gets 6.7 per cent of Spanish airport operator Aena February 18, 2015 The Children’s Investment Fund Management (TCI) took a 6.7 per cent stake in Spanish airport operator Aena in the company’s listing last week, stock market data revealed yesterday. The move sees TCI, run by British hedge fund manager and philanthropist Sir Christopher Hohn, become the Aena’s second largest investor after the Spanish government, which holds [...]
Rio Tinto announces capital return, buys back $2bn in shares February 12, 2015 The figures Rio Tinto shareholders are waking to the news they had been waiting for: the miner will conduct a $2bn (£1.3bn) share buyback. In the miner's full year results, published today, Rio Tinto revealed its underlying earnings had dropped to $9.3bn for the 12 months ending 31 December 2014, down from $10.2bn in 2013. [...]
Lonmin shares hit by Glencore divestment February 11, 2015 PLATINUM producer Lonmin saw its shares plunge by 8.3 per cent yesterday after mining giant Glencore announced that it was divesting its 23.9 per cent stake in the company. Glencore is proposing to make a “distribution in specie” to its shareholders, which means the asset will be distributed in its present form, as opposed to [...]
Lonmin share price falls as much as seven per cent after Glencore divests stake February 11, 2015 FTSE 250-listed planinum miner Lonmin's share price slumped this morning, after Glencore revealed plans to dispose of its 23.9 per cent stake in the business, part of the company's plan to combat falling commodity prices. The disposal, due to be completed by the end of June, sent Lonmin's share price down as much as 6.6 per [...]
Inflation report to give clues on rate hike date – London Report February 8, 2015 THE BANK of England’s quarterly inflation report is this week expected to offer an insight into whether historically-low interest rates will be increased this year or next. Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight, said: “The Bank of England will obviously have to cut its near-term inflation forecasts sharply given that consumer price inflation fell sharply [...]
Viiv Healthcare IPO: Banks onboard for GlaxoSmithKline’s £17bn pharma float February 4, 2015 Pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has hired banks to analyse the pros and cons of a float of its HIV medicines business next year, in what would be the one of the UK’s biggest initial public offerings of the last decade. Chief executive Sir Andrew Witty said banks, believed to be Citi, Goldman Sachs and Morgan [...]
Chinese growth data pushes FTSE 100 higher – London Report January 20, 2015 MINING stocks boosted the FTSE 100 yesterday, after Chinese data beat expectations which pleased mining companies that export to the country, although a tepid outlook from Unilever kept confidence in check. The FTSE 100 index closed 0.5 per cent higher at 6,620.10 points, after earlier reaching its highest point since the start of 2015 at [...]
Market lifted by upbeat view of Christmas retail – London Report January 19, 2015 BRITAIN’S main share index rose yesterday, extending a strong run, with retailers such as Tesco among the biggest gainers from a more upbeat view of the sector after a better-than-expected Christmas period. Electronics retailer Dixons Carphone rose 4.4 per cent, the top riser on the FTSE 100 index, with traders citing optimism ahead of the [...]
Copper market chaos hammers mining stocks January 14, 2015 COLLAPSING copper prices and the continued decline of the oil market hammered stocks in the commodities sector yesterday. Copper fell as much as eight per cent to a five-year low of $5,522 per tonne, a move that analysts attributed to growing excess supply in the market, with China accounting for 40 per cent of global [...]