THE TIPSTER
BUYERS have been snapping up banks with decimated share prices, but there are still some crisis-resilient picks in the financial sector, such as Standard Chartered.
On Thursday the bank will be in the spotlight when it releases its trading update. It has managed to survive the credit crunch relatively unscathed and its share price has not been as badly hit as other banks such as RBS and Lloyds Banking Group.
While the stock seems to be pausing for breath at the moment, it is hoped that Thursday’s results could give the next boost required to get back to levels seen in 2007 and could be a canny buy now ahead of the results. Capital Spreads is quoting a rolling price of 1,184.4-1,186.6p
Staying within the financial services sector, bank-to-bank transactions solutions company Earthport last week announced the appointment of a new vice president of its Middle Eastern operation, increasing expectations from spread betters about the firm’s performance.
But there was no immediate impact on the share price last week, suggesting further upside could be to come over the next few trading days as the market starts to to price in the news. Spreadex is quoting a December spread of 54.9-56.6p.
Miners are still proving a popular buy among spread betters, and among each other by the sounds of it. There were bid rumours around oil and gas explorer Dana Petroleum at the end of last week.
CAPPED UPSIDE
Although the company has clearly expressed that it isn’t interested in being acquired because that would cap its upside, there is little stopping an interested party making a hostile bid for the company. ETX Capital is quoting a rolling daily spread of 1,332-1.338p.
AIM-listed coal miner Polo Resources raised around $10m in a share placing causing plenty of buying interest. The firm’s share price tailed off from a high of 4.95p early last week, but will the news reverse the trend? Spreadex has a September spread of 3.85-4.01p.