Banks fly as trading gets back to normal

Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse comments: "Despite the crash at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on Monday, which left thousands of frustrated retail investors unable to trade UK shares for most of the day, TD Waterhouse customers were quick to bounce back and resume trading from Tuesday morning.

"On average, the week's top ten statistics (covering the week-ending Tuesday, 9th September) show an even spread of buys and sells after a summer in which buy activity set the agenda. The banks have once again reclaimed their position at the top of the trading tables following the housing sector's brief stint at the top last week.

"Lloyds TSB is a frontrunner among our customers this week, representing over a fifth (21%) of top ten buys, marking a 70% rise in buys since last week, with Barclays second, a climb of four places in the same period.

"Following Monday's trading suspension banking shares raced ahead early as the London market resumed trading with a fresh head. A similar picture had been expected before the seven-hour system failure at the LSE, after the news over the weekend of the US government bail-out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, coupled with Monday's announcement of Nationwide's merger with Derbyshire and Cheshire Building Societies.

"Lloyds TSB hit a high of 321.25p whilst Royal Bank of Scotland gained 16.75p at one point. But by the end of Tuesday the mood changed as a result of growing concern for Lehman Brothers, leading to losses at Wall Street and Lloyds TSB closing down 2.25p at 307.75p.

"Outside of the banking sector, BP makes an appearance in both buys and sells this week. The events surrounding the company's Russian partners in the joint venture TNK-BP has meant that BP's stock has had its fair share of turbulence with stocks tumbling to their worst loss in March, when the problems first began, and again in July when TNK-BP CEO, Robert Dudley's work contract was called into question. Nevertheless, since the removal of Dudley, BP has agreed to end the conflict with their Russian partners."

"It has been a turbulent week all round and ultimately, there are lessons to be learned both by the LSE, and brokers who may call into question their dependence on one system, and it is not out of the question that they could consider trading some of their stocks on an international platform."