THE TIPSTER
ALL eyes are on stock market indices such as the FTSE 100 this week as major economic numbers and announcements from across the globe are released. Yesterday’s early gains were wiped out by mid-morning, indicating that there simply aren’t enough bulls out there to prop up the markets and further weakness could be around the corner. Capital CFDs quotes 5,677-5,678 for the UK 100 index.
As the bank reporting season kicks off this week in the UK, part-nationalised RBS could well set off some fireworks when it updates on 5 November. While the bank has underperformed its peers, its fortunes could soon turn around as it updates the market on any asset disposals. ETX Capital is quoting 45.70p-45.74p.
News Corporation’s attempts to add to its existing stake and completely take over BSkyB has hardly been welcomed by the media community in general and it could run into further difficulties with the European Commission expected to be formally notified of the deal in the coming days.
However, the value of the media giant’s support for the UK-based satellite broadcaster cannot be understated either, so it could be a tough call for the Eurocrats. The current IG Markets price on the US-listed News Corp stock is $16.07-$16.11. In the aftermath of the attempted bomb plot, global technology company Smiths Group is once again in the news as the government seeks to improve the standard of air freight monitoring equipment. WorldSpreads offers a rolling spread of 1,225p-1,229p on the company.
Stricken oil giant BP has been slowly moving lower since the start of October in a fairly well-defined channel of roughly 20p in height. BP has also recently been finding resistance around the middle of its Bollinger Band, which at the moment is also at the top of the descending channel, around 428p.
With its third quarter earnings figures out today, it will be interesting to see if resistance at 428p can hold – it may dip back to around 415p if the results are disappointing. The gap to 405p from 9 September is also waiting to be filled just below this. Spread Co offers a spread on BP of 426.3p-427.1p.
The last trading update from global brewer SAB Miller showed a fall in sales in Latin America but a rise in overall volumes thanks to increases in Asian and South African sales. The shares have traded between 1,975p and 2,075p for around seven weeks now. However, 2,075p seems to be quite an obstacle to overcome – it held back the shares in April, May and several times again in October. Look to sell SAB Miller short again at 2,075p. Spread Co offers a spread on SAB Miller of 2,034.5p-2038.5p.
Last week, power group Aggreko said that revenues had jumped 30 per cent on a constant currency basis during the third quarter, and the temporary power and temperature control expert now thinks full-year profits will beat consensus forecasts. Analysts see upside for Aggreko to the current 10-day moving average at 1,646p. Spreadex quotes 1,558p-1,567p.