Top Ten Retail Investor Buys & Sells for week ending 9 January 2008

Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse, commented: UK investors turned their attention towards retailers this week in what has been an unsettling period for the sector following weak Christmas sales. TD Waterhouse customers increased their exposure to Marks and Spencer Group, despite a disappointing trading statement issued by the Company on Tuesday.

The British food and clothes retailer announced that like for like sales during the 13 weeks to 29 December had fallen 2.2 per cent due to challenging market conditions in November and December. This news led to a slide in Marks and Spencer Group’s shares which lost a fifth of their value, plummeting to a 52-week low of 395p. Recently knighted M&S chief executive, Sir Stuart Rose called for a cut in interest rates to ease consumer concerns and stimulate growth but his wishes were not heeded by the Bank of England, which yesterday left interest rates unchanged at 5.5 per cent. The MPC have instead opted for more time to assess the extent of the UK’s economic slowdown and inflation levels and will reconsider cutting rates in February.

strong trading activity this week, as the share value lifted from its annual low of 11.75p to hover around the 30p mark. This follows the news that a group of Abu Dhabi-based investors have agreed to buy 29 per cent of the Company, as cash-rich governments and private Gulf investors continue on their buyout path.

Our customers also chose to take profits from pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline this week. The Company’s share price has been on the up this week, sticking around 1,370p against a yearly low of 1,160p per share. However, concerns remain over setbacks for its Cervarix and Avandia drugs and the Company’s R& D strategy.

Despite a current slide in share price to annual low this week, TD Waterhouse customers increased their exposure in the housing sector, buying into housebuilder Barratt Developments, with boosted optimism from recent analyst forecasts of a possible upturn in the sector from mid-2008.

TD Waterhouse Top Ten Retail Investor Buys & Sells for week ending 9 January 2008

Top 10 Buys
1 Barclays
2 Marks and Spencer Group
3 Lloyds TSB Group
4 Royal Bank of Scotland Group
5 Victoria Oil & Gas
6 Tesco
7 DSG International
8 British Airways
9 Barratt Developments
10 BT Group

Top 10 Sells
1 Victoria Oil & Gas
2 BP
3 Vodafone Group
4 GlaxosmithKline
5 Royal Bank of Scotland Group
6 Barclays
7 Northern Rock
8 Alliance & Leicester
9 Tanfield Group
10 BT Group

TD Waterhouse Top Ten buys and sells are measured as the number of trades carried out in each stock over the previous 7 days.