Lloyds Bank back on top as week's most traded stock
Darren Hepworth, Trading and Customer Services Director, TD Waterhouse comments: "There was a diverse look about this week's TD Waterhouse top ten buys and sells tables as our customers took a shine to technology and communications in addition to trading top ten stalwarts: financial, oil and mining stocks. The FTSE 100 climbed briefly above the 6,000 mark following the bank holiday weekend, before falling back slightly on Tuesday (31 May), closing at 5,989.99.
"Watermark Global (WET) made a splash in both the top ten buys and sells tables this week as it prepared to report a continued operating loss of £1,086,292 for the year ended 31 March on 1 June. The water treatment and management specialist entered our customers' most popular trades' tables at number eight in the buys and 10 in the sells.
"In addition to Watermark Global, the top ten buys table painted a mixed picture this week. Although Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) retained pole position, it was all change elsewhere with new entries at fifth, sixth and ninth for Rockhopper Exploration (RKH), Pace (PIC) and Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), respectively. Cable & Wireless reported on 25 May that it had progressed well during its first year as a stand-alone business, reporting a 21% rise in pre-tax profits to £286m for the year ended 31 March.
"Meanwhile, nine out of 10 of the stocks in this week's sells table belonged to companies operating in the financial, oil and mining sectors as banking heavyweights Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY), Barclays (BARC) and Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) packed a 1-2-3 punch at the table's summit. The prospect of a second bailout package for Greece, with talks around a deal due to conclude today (2 June) appearing to encourage some selling amongst our customers.
"Energy company stocks occupied the next four places in the sells table with Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) dropping back to fourth, having been last week's most popular sell. It was followed by BP (BP), Range Resources (RRL) and Xcite Energy (XEL) in fifth, sixth and seventh places respectively.
"Two new entrants this week - miners Antofagasta (ANTO) and Xstrata Plc (XTA) - were eighth and ninth in the sells respectively. Chile-based Antofagasta saw its share price climb steadily throughout the week as it posted a 30% rise in core earnings for the first quarter on 26 May with higher copper prices and improved volumes offsetting increased costs. The stock's closing price was 1,329p Tuesday (31 May) having opened at 1,200p the previous Wednesday (25 May)."