Trading in bank shares was light on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning as US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke prepared to address the House of Representatives and the Senate later in the day and again on Thursday, reports shareprices.com, a free online share dealing resource that provides share information on all ftse100, 250 and 350 London Stock Exchange listed companies.
Furthermore, the results from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group are due on Thursday and Friday, respectively but, even so, the FTSE 100 index did manage to make some headway, and at 11.39 GMT was up 13.02 points or 0.24% at 5,328.11.
The price of crude oil remained stable throughout the at around $79 a barrel whilst energy stocks rose; Cairn Energy, for example, rose 3.1p or 0.92% to 340.10p and was joined in positive territory by Tullow Oil, up 8p or 0.67% to 1,203p. Additionally, Royal Dutch Shell was a steady riser, up 5.5p or 0.32% to 1,713.5p.
A spokesman for Tullow Oil said on Tuesday that oil fields discovered in the Lake Albert basin in Uganda may be capable of producing 350,000 barrels a day in eight years time, but that the company was sticking to its target of 150,000 barrels a day for 2013.
Banks too were generally higher ahead of the results due later in the week with HSBC leading the sector, rising 14.2p or 2.03% to 714.8p, but there were also positive movements for Lloyds Banking Group, up 0.44p or 0.85% to 52.17p, Standard Chartered, up 10.5p or 0.68% to 1,549p and Royal Bank of Scotland, up 0.16p or 0.44% to 36.16p. Barclays, which recently announced that annual profits in 2009 increased by 92% to £11.6 billion, but traded ex-dividend on Wednesday, was also ahead, rising 0.95p or 0.30% to 312.70p.
Shareprices.com has been launched following the huge success of its predecessor onlinesharedealing.net, and provides free share information on all London Stock Exchange listed companies, sectors and FTSE indices and makes buying and selling shares a simple and quick process.
The site also offers a detailed news section that is updated daily and provides information about risers and fallers from the previous days trading as well as the ability to compare brokers.
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