Prudential highest climber in the TD Waterhouse top ten
Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse Comments: "Life insurer Prudential was the highest climbing new entry in the TD Waterhouse top ten buys table this week - reaching fourth position (10%) following its highly publicised bid to buy AIG's Asian business AIA.
"TD Waterhouse customers swooped in to snap up shares as they fell by 110.30p (18.08%) over the past week as speculation surrounding the deal grew. However, the share price picked up again on Monday as the firm confirmed it had agreed a £23.6 billion ($35.5 billion) deal to acquire AIA, which will be funded with a $20 billion rights issue. Following the takeover, Prudential is set become the largest life group in the area with more than 30 million customers and profits nearing £3 billion a year.
"Overall top ten trades increased 17% on last week as sells climbed (6%) above buys for the first time this year. The banking sector continued to hold a tight grip on the top ten this week - accounting for 64% of overall trades with HSBC making a rare appearance in eighth and ninth place of the sells and buys respectively. Buys in HSBC were 46% higher than sells as the stock fell to 679p (6%) following the banking giant's results announcement on Monday. Pre-tax profits stood at £4.7 billion - slightly below market forecasts while the bank made a bigger than expected loss on the value of its own debt. That said it still remains one of the few UK banks that did not require government funding during the economic crisis.
"House-builders entered the top ten this week, in the lead up to Taylor Wimpey's heavily anticipated results announcement on Wednesday. The firm rose to sixth place in the top ten buys as its share price dwindled towards the end of last week. Earlier this week the Bank of England released new data showing that the number of mortgage approvals had dropped by 17% during January, matching a fall in activity in the housing market.
"Oil explorer Tower Resources climbed into sixth place of this week's top ten sells after abandoning its Avivi-1 well located in Uganda Licence EA5. After drilling to a depth of 764m, Tower did not encounter any oil despite persistent methane gas traces and hopeful water tests.
"However, the miner has not ruled out further exploration in the region and is currently mulling over whether to apply to continue its efforts into the third and final two-year exploration period."