Financials top trading activity
Darren Hepworth, Trading and Customer Services Director, TD Waterhouse comments: "The ongoing economic crisis in Greece dominated the financial news agenda in the week ending Tuesday 21 June, as the country continued to look at ways in which it can avoid defaulting on its debts and exiting out of the Euro."
Darren Hepworth continues: "As the ongoing Greek debt crisis has yet to be borne out, it is unsurprising that financial stocks dominate the top three positions in our top ten customer buys this week - with Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) once again taking the top spot in both the buys and sells tables.
"Just as Lloyds retained its first place in the buys table this week, Barclays (BARC) stayed in second place, while Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) completed a 1-2-3 for Britain's banking giants, moving up from 10th to third place. Movement in the top ten sells table saw Barclays lift two places to third and RBS drop from fourth to sixth. There were two customer buys to every sell among the three banks, as they accounted for over 45% of our top ten buys and nearly 40% of the sells.
"Meanwhile, Kefi Minerals (KEFI) came onto our customers' radar this week, entering both tables simultaneously and accounting for nearly 10% of the overall top ten trades, taking fourth and fifth places respectively. The AIM-listed gold and copper exploration company received good news last Friday (17 June), announcing it had been granted the first mineral exploration licence in Saudi Arabia for the Selib North Project, which lies in a highly prospective part of the Arabian shield. Kefi saw its share price react positively on the news, peaking at 800p on Monday (20 June), having risen during trading on Friday (17 June) from an opening price of 493p.
"Xcite Energy (XEL) re-entered the top ten buys this week and maintained its seventh position in the sells. Analysts counted Xcite among their top North Sea oil stocks, stating they were impressed that the company is applying new ideas in mature basins. A new entrant to the buys, Rockhopper Exploration (RKH), also caught our customers' attention as its share price rose steadily from a Monday morning (20 June) low of 263p to a Tuesday morning (21 June) high of 280p, before finishing the day at 278p.
"Two oil companies entered our customers' most popular sells table this week. Solo Oil (SOLO) took ninth place after announcing last week that testing had begun at its Ausable No.5 well in Ontario, Canada. The firm is partnering with Reef Resources who said that a service rig is currently at the site. Meanwhile, Encore Oil (EO) entered the sells table in tenth place."
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