Buys surge as TD customers eye discounted shares

Darren Hepworth, Trading and Customer Services Director, TD Waterhouse comments: "Customer buys more than doubled in the week ending February 1, as political turbulence in the Middle East continued to affect financial markets. The FTSE 100 closed down at 5,816.88 on January 31 recovering to 5957.82, at close on February 1. Some analysts report that retail traders may have been looking to shed risk from their portfolio by offloading their mining stocks. Equally, savvy investors may have been seeking to capitalise on discounted shares with energy and mining stocks making up 69% of the top ten buys.

"Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the unfolding social and political turmoil in Egypt, mining company Centamin Egypt (CEY) appeared in both the top ten buys and sells tables this week, taking fifth and second places respectively. The firm moved quickly to help calm investor fears surrounding Egypt-focussed stocks, saying its day-to-day operations had so far been unaffected by the protests.

"BP (BP) accounted for nearly 15% of the top ten buys this week. TD customers may have been seeking to capitalise on its share price dip to 475.15 on February 1 after the company posted its first full-year loss in almost 20 years. The oil giant climbed to second place in the buys as a result and fell three places to eighth in the sells.

"Staying with oil, in fourth place in this week's buys is Heritage Oil (HOIL), which was downgraded by analysts on January 31, despite its discovery of over 12 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Miran West field. Reports suggest the company's investors had been expecting the discovery to come in the form of more lucrative oil, rather than gas.

"National Grid (NG) entered the buys table in third this week after announcing it is restructuring its US business. The company believes it will save £125m a year in the process, but will have to shed 1,200 jobs.

"Trading activity among the banks this week saw Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and Barclays (BARC) make up one-third of the top ten sells. In addition, buys in Lloyds doubled on last week, putting it at the top of the buys table for the second week running, as announcements were made on key economic data in the U.S."