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CFD Traders DiaryStrong start in London on good news from big hitters15/4/2008 For a change there was a surge of good news in some of the UK's biggest blue chips, and this offset a weak start on consumer related stocks after news of sharp house price falls. Astra Zeneca led the way early on with a huge gap up after it settled its US patent dispute with Ranbaxy over stomach ulcer pill Nexium. The Indian firm conceded that all six patents asserted by Astra in the patent litigation are valid and enforceable, and this is the first bit of good news for AZN in some time. If the shares can hold current levels, it will clearly turn the trend to bullish, so this is one to watch today..
Tesco is another strong performer after reassuring figures with an 11% increase in full year trading profit to £2.75bn. It highlighted strong growth in its international and online businesses for the rise, and despite some uncertainties over the performance of its new US chain, once again we could be over the worst here.
Another big gap up came from BG Group with crude prices surging to record highs and on news of a major offshore Brazil find by it and partners, Petrobras and Repsol. There is talk that this may be the world's biggest discovery in 30 years, so it looks like there is more to come as the sector bubbles up. At the bottom end, housebuilders and mortgage banks were down again after the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said house prices were seeing their most widespread decline since records began. If the downturn in the market does turn out to be worse than that of the early 1990s, then there will clearly be major casualties here, so we stay with short positions in selected stocks. |
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