FTSE Marks Time Ahead of Bank Results

Trading was light on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning, with US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke due to address the House of Representatives and the Senate later in the day and on Thursday and results from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group due on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Dominic Turner
shareprices.com - Wednesday, February 24, 2010

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Royal Bank of Scotland Group

The FTSE 100 index did manage to make some headway, however and at 11.39 GMT was up 13.02 points or 0.24% at 5,328.11.

The price of crude oil steadied at around $79 a barrel and energy stocks rose; Cairn Energy, for example, rose 3.1p or 0.92% to 340.10p and was joined in positive territory by Tullow Oil, up 8p or 0.67% to 1,203p and Royal Dutch Shell, up 5.5p or 0.32% to 1,713.5p. A spokesman for Tullow Oil said on Tuesday that oil fields discovered in the Lake Albert basin in Uganda may be capable of producing 350,000 barrels a day in eight years time, but that the company was sticking to its target of 150,000 barrels a day for 2013.

Banks too were generally higher ahead of the results due later in the week. Heavyweight HSBC led the sector, rising 14.2p or 2.03% to 714.8p, but there were also decent gains for Lloyds Banking Group, up 0.44p or 0.85% to 52.17p, Standard Chartered, up 10.5p or 0.68% to 1,549p and Royal Bank of Scotland, up 0.16p or 0.44% to 36.16p. Barclays, which recently announced that annual profits in 2009 increased by 92% to £11.6 billion, but traded ex-dividend on Wednesday, was also ahead, rising 0.95p or 0.30% to 312.70p.

 

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