Banks loosen grip on top ten as insurers and miners muscle in
Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse comments: "Sells continued to exceed buys by 27% this week, led by Barclays following news that it is on the lookout for a US retail bank to buy. The banking giant hit the top spot in the sells table, accounting for a quarter (25%) of this week's top ten sell trades - up 62% from last week.
"Overall, the banking sector loosened its grip on this week's top ten - slipping to 53%, compared to 64% last week - as the mining/energy and insurance sectors muscled in with 32% and 15% respectively. Gulf Keystone Petroleum was the second most popular miner - accounting for 20% of mining/energy sector trades in the top ten - after revealing it is in talks with the Turkish Regional Government (KRG) to redress its interest in its joint venture Gulf Keystone Petroleum International (GKPI). The Kurdistan-focused oil and gas explorer is hoping to take full ownership of GKPI by acquiring the 50% stake held by its joint venture partner ETAMIC.
"Insurance giant Prudential climbed one position in this week's buys list and reached sixth place in the sells as it begins a charm offensive to convince investors to back its bid for AIA - the Asian asset arm of AIG. Buy trades far outweighed sells as TD Waterhouse customers appeared to take advantage of the firm's weaker share price, which is trading around 6.87% (38.50p) lower than last month. However, shares in the firm gained slightly on Monday after it announced plans to speed up its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The firm hopes to bring its plans to fruition ahead of its looming £35.5 billion rights issue to finance the AIA takeover.
"Aviva also advanced its position in this week's top ten - creeping up three places in the buys and moving into tenth place of the sells after reporting better-than-expected profits for 2009. The announcement came as analysts called for disgruntled Prudential shareholders to consider switching to Aviva. Buy trades were 91% higher than sells as Aviva shares started the week relatively low before gradually gaining by 2.90p over the past week. The British insurance group reported a recovery in its sales of life assurance, pensions and general insurance products for the fourth quarter during its results announcement on Thursday (4 March)."