TD customers tap into water industry

Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse comments: "Overall top ten trades increased by a further 20% this week, as buys almost leveled the number of sells. Lloyds reinforced its position at first place on both tables, accounting for 28% of this week's top ten trades with trading activity in the bank increasing by 29% since last week.

"Meanwhile, water supplier United Utilities made its first appearance in the top ten, climbing into sixth place of the buys table. Our customers were perhaps soaking up trades in the UK's largest operator of water systems after it confirmed it would be retaining its dividend following strong profit growth over the last three months. The announcement came a day after shares in the water industry plummeted on the back of news that the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) is planning cuts to water bills from next year until 2015.

"However, our customers switched strategy with Vodafone this week as the telecoms giant made its way into third position in the sells table after being last week's fifth most popular buy. Customers may have been seeking to cash in on the mobile network operator's recent share price rise. Shares in Vodafone peaked at 121.40p last Friday - up 4.22% since the week before - as the company reported a 9.3% rise in revenues for the last quarter to June. Despite most of the company's like-for-like figures dropping compared to the previous year, revenues were salvaged by acquisition activity and exchange rate movements.

"Finally, international directories company Yell left customers with mixed feelings this week as there was little difference between the number of buys and sells. While bargain-hungry customers may have been enticed by recession-hit shares, trading below 23p at the beginning of the week, the company's share price picked up again on Thursday, perhaps encouraging other customers to cash-in on their recent investments. The company posted better than expected results for the first quarter, with revenues up 1.6% to £475.3m in the three months to the end of June causing shares in Yell to reach a monthly high of 34p on Monday."