Barclays bounces back to lead the market rally
BARCLAYS is sitting pretty at the top of the UK’s rebounding stocks over the last three months, new figures from Motley Fool (Fool.co.uk) showed yesterday.
The bank’s share price has soared from 61p on 9 March to 281p as of Monday’s closing price, a gain of 360 per cent, as UK lenders began to claw back the losses incurred amid the banking crisis.
The surge in its stock has been mirrored by a broader rally in the FTSE 100, which has soared 28 per cent from its March 2009 lows over the period.
Royal Bank of Scotland, which plunged to 19p in March following a nightmare 2008 which saw it lose a UK record £28bn, was back up to 47p, a gain of 147 per cent. But banking stocks were not the only ones to stage such a dramatic recovery, but mining firms have also enjoyed happier times. Iron miner Ferrexpo and copper specialist Kazakhmys enjoyed huge rallies, up 244 per cent and 192 per cent respectively.
Other star performers included insurer Legal & General, up 200 per cent from 23p to 69p after markets realised it was oversold and housebuilder Taylor Wimpey, whose stock was up from 13p to 37p, a 184 per cent bump.
The fund managment arm of insurer Legal & General said yesterday that the market rally was likely to continue for another two months.
Equity strategist Georgina Taylor said the markets were undergoing an “extended rally” but warned that continued improvement would rest on economic data. “Historically, equity markets start to price in the turn in the economic cycle about two quarters before the data starts to improve,” she said.