RBS Retreats On Credit Card Worries
Tue, Oct 21, 2008
Royal Bank of Scotland eased down 5 per cent after a 23 per cent gain yesterday as investors used the opportunity to sell and following a negative note from Credit Suisse yesterday which warned that banks had still to face rising defaults on credit cards and commercial property loans.
Credit Suisse cut its RBS target from 120p to 70p.
The FTSE 100 was relatively flat as the market paused for breath after a two-day bounce back. The FTSE 100 was up 16 at 4298 by 10.47am.
Oil stocks were climbing on hope that OPEC would make cuts to production targets on Thursday to drive the oil price higher.
BG Group rose 4 per cent, also helped by a positive note from Cazenove which said its recent falls were pricing in a global recession in perpetuity.
Standard Chartered fell 4 per cent to £10.81 following a downgrade from Merrill Lynch yesterday which warned its earnings would be hit by a slowdown in Korea, Pakistan and Thailand.
HSBC was down 4 per cent after strong gains yesterday.
But HBOS topped the FTSE 100 leader board, up nearly 10 per cent, after falling yesterday, helped by its biggest shareholder Standard Life saying it could well up its stake. It also has a stake in RBS.
Prudential slipped 1 per cent, after strong gains on Monday as there was no news on finding a strategic investor and it scrapped its profit growth target.
Tullow Oil was up 3 per cent after it and its midcap partner, Herigage Oil, up 16 per cent, unveiled a new oil discovery in Uganda.
St Ives, the publishing group jumped 38 per cent to 107p on stronger than expected results.
Source : http://business.timesonline.co.uk/
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