Investors flock to trade Standard Chartered stock; Hargreaves Lansdown report 764pct increase in interest for STAN

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Category: Financials

Published on Friday, 10 August 2012 09:15

Written by Sam Coventry

This morning's review of the big financial news events featuring: Standard Chartered plc, Libor investigation gets rolling, new boss at Barclays, stocks open lower. 

Standard Chartered plc (LON:STAN) as attracted the bargain hunters in a big way this week.

Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers have reported Standard Chartered as being the most traded share in the last 7 days.

A 764 pct increase in interest in Standard Chartered's share price compared to previous 7 days was registered.


Danny Cox, Head of Advice, Hargreaves Lansdown

"Investors who bought at the bottom and sold last night have made a tidy 27%. Buying company shares in turmoil is a risk business - markets have a tendency to over react. Those who bought Northern Rock 5 years ago suffered total loss - but the rewards can be significant. For these reasons, these types of trade should be restricted to a small part of a portfolio and with money you can afford to lose"

Libor investigation gets rolling

Martin Wheatley, the financier who has been asked by the Government to head an inquiry into how the key benchmark borrowing rate is set, will publish an initial discussion paper on Friday.

The Telegraph said it will include suggestions on how to restore trust in the system following the recent rate-rigging scandal that saw Barclays hit with a £290m fine for LIBOR manipulation. Quoting the Press Association news-wire, the Telegraph said stakeholders such as banks will have four weeks to submit written responses to the proposals.

Barclays chairman appointment

After the market close yesterday, the company announced the appointment of Sir David Walker as a Non-Executive Director with effect from 1 September and will succeed Marcus Agius as Chairman from 1 November 2012. Sir David Walker has held a number of high profile positions at financial institutions over the last 30 years and he will be 'fully engaged' in the process of appointing a new Chief Executive.

European headline shares open lower

Shavaz Dhalla at Spreadex Ltd comments on the poor opening on the equity markets:

"European headline shares opened lower today tracking losses in Asian trading on Friday as investor’s sense of optimism was halted courtesy of poor Chinese data released on Friday. Data showed that Chinese exports in July rose a mere 1% compared to a year earlier and is the weakest since January this year.
 
"However, losses within European trading was supported by long-term investors bargain seeking and hoping that Chinese policy officials will provide additional stimulus to help support Chinese growth which is clearly being jeopardised by slowdowns in the US and Europe.
 
"Manchester United Ltd is due to list today in the US.  Recent reports have shown that the club’s IPO price has been slashed to $14 below the $16-$20 expectation.  The club has probably now realised that owning a part of one of the most successful sports clubs in the world will not compensate for denying a dividend as well as equal voting rights to prospective shareholders."