U.S. News Lifts Banking Stocks

A rally on Wall Street overnight, which left the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 44.51 points, or 0.42%, at 10,611.84, initially bolstered the FTSE 100 Index on Friday morning. Gains were short-lived, however and shortly after midday Britain's leading share index had retreated to 5,633.80, up 16.54 points, or 0.29%.

Dominic Turner
shareprices.com - Friday, March 12, 2010

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Royal Bank of Scotland Group

Financial stocks were strong across the board, with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) up 2.06p, or 5.08%, to 42.61p, Lloyds Banking Group up 2.02p, or 3.57%, to 58.56p and Barclays up10.3p, or 3%, to 354.05p. The banks mirrored their U.S. counterparts, who were stronger after news that Christopher Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee is to offer his own version of an overhaul of financial regulations without Republican support; Congress and the U.S. administration have been trying to implement an overhaul since last summer.

Elsewhere, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline announced that it had divested its remaining 4.5% stake, worth £1.43 million, in its former subsidiary Maxygen. GlaxoSmithKline originally owned a 50% stake in maxygen when it became an independent company, but had been steadily reducing that stake, selling £5.12 million at the end of last year. GlaxoSmithKline traded at 1,245.5p, down 4.5p, or 0.36%, shortly after midday on Friday.

British Airways (BA) was in the news again, this time because of an announcement by the Unite union that cabin crew will strike for three days from 20th March and a further four days from 27th March. Union mebers do have the opportunity to vote on a revised offer on pay and working conditions by BA management, but have been advised not to accept. BA's share price was marginally ahead, however, up 1.7p, or 0.74%, to 232.2p.

 

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