TD customers take a fancy to black gold
Darren Hepworth, Trading and Customer Services Director, TD Waterhouse comments: "TD customers used a second consecutive shortened week of trading from Wednesday, 27 April to bring oil stocks back into focus, with oil companies accounting for over 50% of our top ten customer buys and nearly 60% of the top ten sells in the week ending Tuesday, 3 May. Financials were also back in the tables as the FTSE remained above the 6,000-mark, closing at 6,082.88 on Tuesday (3 May).
"Barclays (BARC) shot straight back into our top ten buys table at the number one spot this week, accounting for nearly a third of our customer buys. It seems TD customers were hoping to pick up a bargain after the banking giant announced a 9% drop in pre-tax profits in the three months ended 31 March, compared to the same period the previous year. The disclosure saw the bank's share price fall sharply to a low of 286.10p on Wednesday (27 April) as a result, having closed at 300.91p the previous day.
"New entrant, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) hit the number one spot in the top ten sells table, as customers appeared to cash in after the U.K.'s biggest drug maker reported a 14% increase in first quarter profits, which were helped in part by gains from the sale of the pharmaceutical's stake in Quest Diagnostics Inc.
"The remainder of both the buys and sells tables were heavily dominated by oil as two industry giants, Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell saw rises in first quarter profits on the back of higher world oil prices. Solo Oil's (SOLO) recent popularity continued as it remained in the top three buys and sells for the third week running, rising one place in each table to second.
"Chariot Oil & Gas (CHAR) entered the top ten buys in 10th place as it attempted to play down fears about a new mining and minerals bill in Namibia. The explorer's share price plummeted from its Thursday (28 April) closing price of 235.09p to 188.75p on Tuesday (3 May) before it recovered some of those earlier losses, which appeared to be linked to talk that a bill and creation of new state owned mining company, Epangelo Mining, could affect its operations in the area.
"Elsewhere in the oil sector, Nostra Terra Oil (NTOG) also reappeared in the top ten buys and sells this week taking fifth place in both tables, while BP (BP) climbed one place in the sells to eighth and entered the buys in sixth after one week's absence."