TD Waterhouse customers look to housing sector

Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse comments: "For the first time in over six months, banks do not dominate our top five buys this week, although they do still represent more than half (55.9%) of TD Waterhouse customers' top ten sells. However, the house building sector is at the forefront of this week's top ten with Taylor Wimpey occupying the top position and accounting for over a quarter (27%) of our customers' top ten buys.

"The Government's decision to suspend stamp duty for 12 months on properties valued up to £175,000, and the proposal to infuse £1.6 billion into the struggling sector has led the homebuilder's share price to rise 8.5% to 60.75p. The dramatic increase in the number of trades could also reflect Taylor Wimpey's launch of a campaign among institutional investors in an effort to broaden its shareholder base. House builders will be hoping the new proposals will instill some much needed confidence into the sector, and judging by this week's trading activity, with buy activity on peer Barratt Development also increasing, having crept up 19% over the week, our customer's will be hoping the same.

"There are also some notable newcomers in this week's buy charts, including the pharmaceutical company SkyePharma. While shares in SkyePharma had surged on Monday, following a report that the company was on the brink of announcing a renegotiation of its convertible bonds, its shares fell back dramatically the following day, closing down 33.6 %, at 3.82p.

"This was largely due to SkyePharma's decision to restructure its debt by selling new shares at a massive discount (1½p) to the present price. The company has lost more than 80% of its value in the past year after Flutiform, an asthma inhaler and SkyPharma's leading product, hit delays in receiving approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in July last year. Dr Ken Cunningham, the company's new chief executive says that renegotiating the debt should give SkyePharma the headroom it needs to get the product to market.

"The international oil & gas facilities service provider Petrofac Limited, another new entrant in our top ten buys tables this week, has announced a new joint venture. Together with Mubadala Petroleum Services Company LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, Petrofac revealed plans to establish Petrofac Emirates LLC. Based in Abu Dhabi and scheduled to begin operation within the next few months, the new joint venture will provide a full range of engineering, design, procurement and construction services for onshore oil and gas, refining and petrochemical projects throughout the United Arab Emirates.

"TD Waterhouse customers have also decided to switch from selling stocks in BHP Billiton to actively buying them. Perhaps our customers were taking advantage of a more than 8% drop in the mining giant's share price on Tuesday after European Union regulators decided to hold up their investigation into the mining giant's takeover bid for rival Rio Tinto. The investigation had originally been scheduled to conclude on 11 November but will now be rescheduled until after the regulators receive more information from the companies.

"And finally, last year's stock of choice by our customer's is making something of a comeback as PartyGaming, the listed online gaming firm, reappears in our sells table. The group's half-year results showed that its international online roulette, bingo and sports betting businesses have boomed, while slowing growth in poker revenues has sent shares down. Following a fall in its share price PartyGaming announced its eCOGRA accreditation, an assessment services provider for the European Gaming and Betting Association."