Investors rally ahead of FTSE five-year high

Stuart Welch, CEO, TD Direct Investing comments on the key findings from TD client buys and sells for week ending 11 March 2013:

"UK trading among TD clients was up 20% for the week ending Monday 11 March, ahead of the FTSE 100 hitting a five year high of 6503.63 points at market close on Tuesday. Investors will be hopeful that analyst predictions that the FTSE will continue to climb to pre-crisis highs of around 6,800 will come true.

“Meanwhile, Aviva (AV.) was bought and sold at a ratio of 2.79:1 among TD clients this week, accounting for more than one in five (21%) of the overall Top Ten UK trades. The trading activity followed the insurer's full-year results on Thursday 7 March, which showed a £3bn loss after tax and a dividend cut from 26p to 19p a share.

"Our international trades tables hinted that TD clients may have this weekend's St Patrick's Day celebrations in mind, as Bank of Ireland (IRE) entered the International Top Ten trades in fourth and third place for the buys and sells respectively. Trading was relatively even with a buy:sell ratio of 1:1 ahead the Bank's pending entry to the Footsie World Services Index, due on 15th March."