Diamonds are the world’s best friend April 29, 2012 FOR obvious reasons, most women don’t look upon their engagement ring as an investment – at least not in monetary terms – but diamonds can, and perhaps should, also be valued for their present and potential future value. A NEAR-PARAGON Diamonds are tangible, portable assets, highly concentrated in value, which offer a great opportunity to [...]
The four key criteria for getting your perfect diamond April 29, 2012 JEWELLERS use the universal four Cs – carat, colour, clarity and cut – to describe a diamond’s characteristics and assess its value. NOT JUST A QUESTION OF SIZE Carat is simply a measure of weight, not size as commonly thought. One carat (1 ct) equals 0.20 grams and is divided into 100 points, half a [...]
Bumper results lift FTSE higher April 26, 2012 BRITAIN’S top shares pushed higher yesterday, notching up a third session of gains as investors digested a big bag of blue chip results, with advances in oil majors outweighing a heavy fall in drugs firm AstraZeneca. The FTSE 100 index closed up 29.83 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 5,748.72 after a choppy session, continuing [...]
Housing data boosts stocks April 26, 2012 US stocks rose for a third day yesterday after upbeat housing data and stronger-than-expected results from companies, including Citrix Systems, overshadowed some high-profile earnings misses. Pending home sales rose to nearly a two-year high in March, sending the Philadelphia Stock Exchange index of housing-related shares up three per cent. Shares of homebuilder Lennar climbed 5.7 [...]
Recessionary data brushed off as FTSE mirrors gains seen on Wall St April 25, 2012 THE UK’s blue-chip index closed up yesterday, shrugging off weak UK GDP figures showing Britain slipped back into recession and disappointing first-quarter results from drugmaker Glaxosmithkline, as investors awaited results from a key US Federal Reserve meeting. Early gains on the FTSE 100 index were led by a rise on Wall Street, which opened up [...]
Apple and Fed combine to boost equities April 25, 2012 US stocks rallied yesterday, with Apple’s surge giving the Nasdaq its biggest gain of the year, while the Fed chairman reassured markets that the central bank would do more if necessary to lift the economy. Apple fueled optimism that the current earnings season would be much stronger than expected, generating gains across all market sectors. [...]
Commodities may deliver the goods April 25, 2012 The market dynamics that have been driving the commodity markets for the last 18 months remain in place LAST year, the commodity markets were dominated by the seemingly irrepressible rise of gold – with $5,000 an ounce figures being bandied around as potential targets for the yellow metal. That was before margin calls and a [...]
Lawyers must plan carefully before packing their bags April 25, 2012 ASURVEY by Laurence Simons, the legal recruiters, recently found that 67 per cent of lawyers would consider relocating abroad as their next career move. Reasons included a tightened job market in London and a perception that practising law in emerging markets, in Dubai, in Russia or Australia would prove lucrative, both monetarily and for future [...]
Chartered Financial Analysts open doors April 25, 2012 DANIEL MURRAY EFG ASSET MANAGEMENT DR DANIEL Murray, global head of research at EFG Asset Management, decided to undertake the chartered financial analyst (CFA) qualification when he realised that, although very well-qualified academically, he “wasn’t always speaking the same language as other people. There were some holes in my knowledge, so my reasons were educational,” [...]