Light Trading on LSE Wednesday

Trading was light on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning as investors awaited news from the U.S. Federal Reserve. It was however, a hectic session for company statements and banks were in demand after news that the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision had agreed to defer new liquidity rules. Barclays was the best performer in the banking sector, up 3.6p to 288.15p, but Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was also going well, up 0.42p to 32.05p after Citigroup increased its target price.

Dominic Turner
shareprices.com - Wednesday, December 16, 2009

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Barclays

Overall, by 9.20 a.m., the FTSE 100 index was up 36.40 points at 5,322.16, having closed down 0.6% at 5,285.77 on Tuesday.

In corporate news, Rentokil Initial was the best performer amongst FTSE 100 constituent companies, up 2.62p to 102.82p, after Deutsche Bank increased its target price for the stock. Share prices in retailer Kesa Electricals, which own the Comet chain, also rose 2.2p to 156.7p after the group reported a 37% increase in pre-tax profits for the six months to the end of October, up to £14.9 million and a 2% increase in like-for-like sales. Both figures were significantly better than market expectations.

Punch Taverns, the largest pub company in Britain, fared less well, down 1.05p at 80.1p after it reported that profits "remained under pressure", with sales and rental income weak in the first 16 weeks of its financial year. Punch has a net debt of £3.3 billion, but nevertheless, announced that it would increase its support for tenants – rent concessions and other discounts – from £1.6 million to £2 million a month to help them stay afloat.

 

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