Banks on the radar as they face up to ring-fencing
Darren Hepworth, Trading and Customer Services Director, TD Waterhouse comments: "Britain's biggest banks were back on TD customers' investment agendas in the week ending Tuesday, 14 June, as news emerged that Chancellor George Osborne would back the Independent Commission on Banking's (ICB) recommendation to ring-fence UK depositors' money. The move would separate banks' retail arms from their investment banking operations, in an attempt to reduce the risk of a future financial crisis in the sector.
Darren Hepworth continues: "Ahead of George Osborne's speech on the ICB's report yesterday (15 June), Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY), Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) and Barclays (BARC) accounted for over 40% of both the top ten buys and sells as our customers appeared to anticipate movement in the banking giants' stock prices.
"Lloyds Bank clinched a fourth consecutive week at the summit of the top ten buys table and moved up from third to first place in sells, while Royal Bank of Scotland also moved up the sells table from eighth to fourth, entering the buys in 10th place. Fellow banking behemoth, Barclays, remained in second place in the buys, re-entering the sells in fifth.
"Xstrata (XTA) moved up one place to seventh in our most popular buys table this week as Glencore, which owns 34% of the mining group, published its first quarterly results since listing on Tuesday (14 June). Analysts appeared to use Glencore's results to estimate Xstrata's financial performance during the same period, with comments prompting a drop in its share price which stood at 1332p at close on Monday (13 June), but closed down at 1302p the following day.
"Elsewhere in mining, following the influx of new entrants last week, Berkeley Mineral Resources (BMR) was the only stock to enter both tables simultaneously this week. The AIM-listed miner announced on 10 June that due diligence on its proposed purchase of all remaining stockpiles of tailings at the Kabwe mine in Zambia, has been completed.
"This week also saw increased interest among our customers in Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) as news emerged that one of its largest shareholders transferred more than 11 million shares to the company's chief executive, Todd Kozel, last month without his knowledge. The oil explorer lifted to third position in the sells from sixth and entered the buys in eighth place.
"Meanwhile, Desire Petroleum (DES) continued to attract attention as the Falkland Islands dedicated oil explorer gained two places in both the buys and sells tables, finishing the week in third and second places, respectively."