Friday 24 August 2012
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out of it alive"
-Elbert Hubbard
THIS MORNING IN LONDON
FTSE 100
5,746.24
-30.36 -0.53%
FTSE 250
11,402.37
-64.17 -0.56%
FTSE 350
3,053.01
-16.26 -0.53%
FTSE All Share
2,987.55
-15.57 -0.52%
AIM 100
3,061.06
-31.70 -1.03
AIM All Share
680.66
-4.75 -0.69%
13:50 pm
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Hello Share Folk,
There is a load more coverage of stocks and shares and similar business stuff since the big crunch. Before that, the people who pick out the news for us – news editors – thought that most of their readers and viewers were simply not interested. Perhaps they thought it was all above most of us.
But these days there is a lot of ‘business news’. But the reporters do seem to me to cover stuff that is on the fringes of share trading and even general business.
Click here to view the rest of the article
NEW ON THE BLOG
by Tom Winnifrith
Whether house prices are increasing too rapidly or falling, there are always calls for the Government to do something. If they are going up to fast, house builders and the Guardian call for more homes to be built. If they are falling rapidly then the daily mail calls for tax breaks for “hard pressed homeowners.” We never hear calls from the Guardian to knock down empty homes of house prices are falling or from the Mail to provide tax breaks for builders to build more of they are rising...
Click here to view the rest of the article
TIP OF THE DAY
A report by Growth Equities & Company Research
office2office (o2o) is a leading supplier of office products and services in the UK.
Major Contract Wins – The group has won a number of important contracts over the past 18 months that could generate revenues of over £60 million per annum when fully implemented.
Significant Growth Opportunities – We believe o2o has significant scope for revenue growth, both by expanding existing contracts and through new contract wins.
Impressive Dividend – o2o currently offers a dividend yield of 7.8%, which is supported by a strong historical free cash flow…
Click here to download the full report…
THIS MORNING IN LONDON
Stocks down despite revision to UK GDP
- UK Q2 GDP revised upwards
- Greece in focus as Samaras meets Merkel
- US QE hopes fading fast
UK stocks were volatile in morning trade on Friday but remained firmly in negative territory in spite of some upwards revision to second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data in the UK.
The state of Britain's economy in the second quarter was bad but not as bad as initially feared, revised figures for GDP show. Having initially estimated that GDP fell 0.7% in the second quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revised its numbers which now indicate a 0.5% quarterly decline in GDP, bang in line with market expectations.
"The revision doesn't make a huge amount of difference as it still confirms the UK is in its third quarter of recession," said analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.
Greece will likely remain in focus today, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras are scheduled to meet to discuss the extension of meeting the bailout terms.
According to media reports this morning, the German Finance Ministry has established a group to look at the impact of contagion from a Greek exit from the Eurozone.
"These issues have surely been studied and discussed within the government for some time now, but the official confirmation of a working group putting together a 'Plan B' is a clear signal to the Greek government and its PM Samaras, who is visiting Chancellor Merkel today, that there is very little room for renegotiating the current Greek aid programme," said analysts at Barclays in en e-mailed note.
Meanwhile, hopes of further stimulus from the US Federal Reserve are quickly beginning to fade. "Mixed noises from two Fed members prompts the uncertainty this morning, unnerving investors before the Jackson Hole meeting next week," said market strategist Ishaq Siddiqi.
FTSE 100: Miners and financials provide a drag
Mining stocks were heavy fallers with Kazakhmys, Rio Tinto, ENRC, Antofagasta, Anglo American, Vedanta, BHP Billiton and Randgold falling sharply.
Anglo American dropped after Jefferies downgraded the stock this morning from 'buy' to 'hold' despite yesterday's news that it had resolved a 10-month dispute with Codelco relating to assets in Chile. "While this outcome should be a modest positive for Anglo, we are increasingly concerned about the fundamental outlook for the company," the broker said.
Financials were also out favour with fund manager Ashmore among the worst performers after Citigroup lowered its rating to 'sell'.
Global banking group HSBC was under the weather on rumours that it is in talks about a settlement concerning the allegations of laundering funds of sanctioned countries such as Iran and Sudan.
Meanwhile, utilities stocks were benefitting from as risk appetite is scaled back. National Grid gained after Nomura said that the stock remains a top pick in the European utilities sector. It is a "compelling growth story [with] rising visibility".
FTSE 250: Berendsen gains; Stobart and Lonmin drop
Work-wear and wash-room facilities provider Berendsen rose after increasing profitability in the first half of 2012, despite a small dip in revenues.
Logistics firm Stobart fell after saying its short-term performance in transport is lower than market expectations as the current recessionary climate continues to hurt the sector.
Platinum miner Lonmin was out of favour after appointing Simon Scott, the group's Chief Financial Officer, as Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) while Ian Farmer is receiving treatment for his illness.
In small caps news, upmarket cooker maker AGA Rangemaster dropped over 10% after deciding not to pay an interim dividend as revenues and profits slipped in the first half.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Centrica (CNA) 327.90p +1.45%
Shire Plc (SHP) 1,948.00p +1.25%
Aggreko (AGK) 2,284.00p +1.11%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,745.00p +1.10%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 715.00p +1.06%
SSE (SSE) 1,358.00p +0.97%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,464.50p +0.93%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 664.00p +0.91%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,594.00p +0.90%
Diageo (DGE) 1,712.50p +0.85%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 329.40p -4.94%
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 339.00p -3.56%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 659.00p -3.16%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,882.50p -3.04%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,867.00p -3.04%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,918.00p -2.17%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,127.00p -2.17%
GKN (GKN) 219.10p -2.14%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,704.00p -2.07%
Barclays (BARC) 187.10p -2.04%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Redrow (RDW) 143.90p +2.79%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 488.10p +2.28%
KCOM Group (KCOM) 78.60p +2.14%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 171.70p +2.08%
Computacenter (CCC) 379.80p +2.07%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,100.00p +1.94%
Greene King (GNK) 576.00p +1.86%
Kenmare Resources (KMR) 39.05p +1.85%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 569.50p +1.79%
Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 188.60p +1.67%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
SIG (SHI) 98.35p -4.14%
Hays (HAS) 77.50p -3.91%
Man Group (EMG) 76.40p -3.35%
Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 39.76p -3.26%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 185.70p -3.18%
Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 141.30p -3.09%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,150.00p -2.95%
Heritage Oil (HOIL) 200.10p -2.77%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 115.90p -2.69%
Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 570.00p -2.56%
WHAT THE BROKERS SAY
Nomura has reiterated its positive stance about utilities group National Grid, saying that the firm remains a 'compelling growth story [with] rising visibility'.
Investec has retained it 'hold' recommendation and 590p target price for global banking giant HSBC, highlighting the recent rating outlook change by Standard and Poor's and settlement rumours in the US.
Jefferies has downgraded its rating for mining giant Anglo American from 'buy' to 'hold' in spite of yesterday's announcement that it had resolved the 10-month dispute with Codelco over assets in Chile.
Click here for the rest of the broker recommendations
THE LATEST ON THE CRAZY BOARD
The top 5 hot company threads on the Bulletin Board:
TTG
PUNTLAND - RANGE HIT MASSIVE OIL COLUMN - PL
KURDISTAN-TXO JOIN GULF KEYSTONE WITH 10% STAKE
APR ENERGY (APR) - Another Aggreko?
Cluff Gold (CLF)
Click here to discuss shares with other ShareCrazy members
BOOK OF THE WEEK
By Rodney Hobson
A book review by Luka Lukic of t1ps.com
In this book Rodney Hobson aims to provide a straight forward introduction into the world of portfolio management and best practices to employ when selecting what you want to invest in. Thankfully it doesn't pretend to offer a guaranteed, one size fits all, scheme to become a millionaire, but instead attempts to compel the reader to assess what they wants to get out of their investment and then provides guidance to that end.
The book aims to explain the different behaviours of the various market sectors, and the importance of not only holding a range of shares, but diversifying them throughout the sectors to ensure a proper hedge. It also walks the reader logically through a range of factors than can, and most likely will, affect the share price and gives case studies to demonstrate the impact on real companies.
Click here to view the rest of the article
Regards,
ShareCrazy
UK House Prices set to slump by 30% (at least)
No comments:
Post a Comment