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CFD Traders DiaryAnother strong performance as the bears are squeezed26/2/2008 We have been warning for a while that you cannot write off the bulls, and the FTSE 100 index has risen for the second day running, making almost a 200 point gain so far this week. The reason is simply that value investors believe the scale of pessimism is overdone and many cyclical plays look rated on a worse case scenario. Yesterday, three sectors hogged the winners, namely transport, commercial property and housebuilders but the financials also saw some very strong moves, and that theme has continued this morning. Alliance & Leicester have actually risen 30% from Friday morning's low point so it is not all plain sailing for the shorts. Standard Chartered led the way though this morning with a 6.6% gain after it reported a strong increase in pre-tax profits and said its capital ratios were well above management's target ranges.
There was plenty of excitement ahead of results from Persimmon, but the figures themselves were entirely respectable given the dullness of the housing market. Profits rose 1% in the year but the order book fell to £1.05bn against £1.3bn last year. Despite the group's caution about the market, the shares held up well and were 1.8% ahead mid-morning |
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