TD Waterhouse - Lloyds most traded stock
Darren Hepworth, Trading and Customer Services Director, TD Waterhouse comments: "Part-nationalised bank Lloyds (LLOY) was the most-bought and most-sold stock by our customers as the Chancellor unveiled the most significant Comprehensive Spending Review in a generation and G20 finance ministers met in South Korea to tackle currency and trade imbalances. The black horse accounted for 25% of the overall top ten buys as banking sector share prices sagged.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), also part-nationalised, retained fifth place on the buys and rose from fifth to third on the sells as Prime Minister David Cameron hinted that the government may hold its stake for longer than expected, resulting in RBS shares slumping 4.6% across the week. In comparison, Barclays (BARC) dropped from first to second among the buys and third to sixth among the sells.
"While these high-profile events drew attention to the banking sector, it was the trading of resources stocks that remained most popular with our customers, accounting for 57% of our overall top ten trades in the week ended 26 October 2010.
"Xcite Energy (XEL) entered the buys in fourth place and was the second most popular sell after announcing that its 9/3b-6 well on the Bentley field in the North Sea is progressing on schedule and has reached target depth for the first part of its planned work programme.
"Max Petroleum (MXP) jumped from seventh to third position on the buys and entered the sells at fourth after the oil explorer found additional oil reserves while drilling for its target reserves at the Block A Uytas prospect in Western Kazakhstan.
"Berkeley Mineral Resources (BMR), a UK-based mineral processing company, entered the top ten buys at seventh place after its share price rose 87% over the week in the lead up to an issue of warrant shares on Tuesday 26 October. Finally, Victoria Oil & Gas (VOG) entered the buys in eighth and the sells in tenth position after announcing that proven gas reserves at its Logbaba project in Cameroon had increased over four times following a review."