TD customers buy as banks keep FTSE above 6,000
Darren Hepworth, Trading and Customer Services Director, TD Waterhouse comments: "This week our customer buys surged by nearly 20% on last week's as the FTSE 100 closed at 6014 points (on 11 January), buoyed by optimistic comments from brokers on the banking sector and the expected government retreat in its battle against big bonuses.
"The sound bites provided a catalyst for a series of rises in share prices with Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) jumping over Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) into second place on the buys from last week's sixth position. In addition, Barclays' (BARC) share price reacted positively to Bob Diamond's comments at his meeting with the Treasury Select Committee, that it is not acceptable for tax payers to bail out banks.
Tempted by technology
"TD Waterhouse customers continued to hone in on banks, energy and miners, with these sectors accounting for more than 85% of the total top ten trades over the last seven days (ending 11 January). However, two exceptions to the rule appeared in the top ten buys this week as ARM Holdings (ARM) turned in the best performance on the FTSE 100, with its share price increasing 6% to 407.5p, following analyst remarks in the US that the company is a bid target. Meanwhile, Aviva (AV) entered the buys in eighth place amid reports it is in talks with Norwich & Peterborough (N&P) Building Society to buy N&P's advisory business.
Investors remain energised
"Our customer trading volumes in BP (BP) saw the company move up to second place in the sells and return to first place in the buys table, replacing Desire Petroleum (DES) at the top as oil explorers remained popular with our clients.
"New entry to the top ten tables this week, Range Resources (RRL), announced that it had snapped up a large stake in the East Texas Cotton Valley project increasing its interest to 21.75% this week while Xcite Energy (XEL) slipped in both the sells and buys tables on the back of news of its application for the admission to AIM of 100,000 new ordinary shares."