TD customers continue to capitalise on FTSE 100 rally

Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse comments: "Sells doubled this week, helping to push overall trading volumes up by more than half, as the FTSE 100 continued to rally from the lows of early June and investors took comfort from a successful Greek bond sale and prospects for a strong US results season. Banks and energy companies accounted for the bulk of activity among our customers in the week ended Tuesday 13th July, with BP (BP) maintaining its position at the top of the buys list.

"BP stock rose 24% over the week as the saga in the Gulf of Mexico continued. While a new cap was fitted to the leaking well and Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund reiterated its interest in taking an equity stake, the oil major's partners said that they won't help to pay for the clean-up effort. Investors reacted to developments in the Gulf throughout the week, pushing overall trading in BP up by 116% - with buys up 124% and sells up 101%.

"In a week where UK banks were lifted by strong US corporate results and an upgrade of the European banking sector by Credit Suisse analysts, buy trades in banks fell by a third, while sells increased by 178%. Lloyds (LLOY) overtook BP as the most-sold stock by our customers after it agreed a deal to sell its private equity investments. After doubling last week, sells in Barclays (BARC) more than trebled this week, helping the bank retain third place on our top ten sells list. Meanwhile, HSBC (HSBA) entered the buys list in ninth place as it was reported the bank was in talks about selling its rolling stock leasing business.

"Oil explorers remained a focus as investors reacted to news from the Falklands South Basin. AIM-listed Falkland Oil & Gas (FOGL) saw its shares drop by more than half after it plugged and closed its Toroa well in the region, lifting the stock from sixth to second place on the buys list as overall trading in the oil explorer by our customer's rose 70%. Meanwhile, promising resource estimates for sub-Saharan oil explorer Tower Resources (TRP) saw it make its debut in both the buys and sells list at seventh and eighth respectively.""

"Finally, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) entered the top ten buys list in third place, as the market awaits the result of this week's key hearing by US federal regulators on its Avandia diabetes drug."