Gulf drives ahead of Barclays to top TD buys table

Stuart Welch, CEO, TD Direct Investing comments: "Barclays (BARC) was finally knocked off the top of the buys table this week after occupying it for five weeks running. Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) moved up to pole position, taking second place in the sells and accounting for almost a fifth (17.1%) of all top ten trades, following speculation that the oil and gas company could expand its Shaikan oil field in Kurdistan. Gulf saw its share price close the week ending Monday 6 August at 215.3p, whilst the FTSE 100 increased over 115 points to close the same period at 5808.77.

"Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) was one of eight newcomers to the tables this week, occupying sixth spot in the buys table and joint third in the sells after reporting a half year loss of £1.5bn. Nonetheless, RBS saw its share price rise slightly throughout the week to close at 222.3p on Monday 6 August with TD clients selling the banking giant at a ratio of 2.1:1.

"Vodafone Group plc (VOD) was a new entrant to the sells table this week as TD clients appeared keen to try and cash in on its rising share price. The stock gained nearly 4% to 189.5p during the week ahead of the news that retrospective tax laws in India - that landed the mobile phone giant with a $2.2bn bill - would be reviewed.

"Elsewhere, there were a number of newcomers to our tables from the oil and gas sector, with Falkland Oil & Gas Ltd (FOGL) entering at ninth place in the buys table, whilst Kazakhmys plc (KAZ) and Vedanta Resources plc (VED) entered in ninth and 10th places respectively on the sells table."

The value of your investments can go down as well as up. You may not get back all the funds that you invest.

For more information clients can log on to tddirectinvesting.co.uk.