April 12, 2007

Equities, commodities, bonds all mixed on session

by Elaine Frei
Global equities markets were mixed on Thursday. Most equities markets in Asia were lower, while in the Pacific region the Sydney Ordinaries were up just slightly, adding 0.11 percent to 6,142.8. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dropped 0.34 percent to 20,380.21, while the Sensex was 0.53 percent lower to 13,113.81 in India. The Straits Times ...

---

RICS survey: house prices up in March

by Elaine Frei
In its latest survey, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) says that house prices in the UK were up for the seventeenth month in a row in March, indicating that the housing market is still healthy despite recent interest rate hikes and that prices are not likely to decline in the near future. Many analysts had expected that ...

---

HSBC creates “premier” branch in Canford Cliffs

by Elaine Frei
The Canford Cliffs branch of HSBC (LSE: HSBA: NYSE: HBC; Euronext: HSBC; SEHK: 005) is about to become one of the most exclusive bank branches in the UK. Beginning in June, it will only accommodate “face-to-face” banking for what it calls its “premier” customers. The new arrangement means that customers, in order to be able to talk to a teller ...

---

April 11, 2007

Wall Street declines on Fed minutes

by Elaine Frei
Equities markets in the Asia and Pacific region were mixed on Wednesday. Both the Sensex in India and the Sydney Ordinaries in Australia dropped 0.05 percent on the session, to 13,183.24 and 6,136.1 respectively. The Straits Times index in Singapore was 0.16 percent higher to 3,420.62, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong added 0.5 percent to 20,449.43. ...

---

Mortgage lender warns on profits

by Elaine Frei
The sub-prime mortgage troubles that have recently beset US lenders could be beginning to be felt in the UK. Kensington Group (LSE: KIRAX), which specializes in providing mortgages to customers in the UK and Ireland whose credit ratings are below average warned that it cannot provide estimates of how much profit it expects to make this year and that profits in ...

---

Report: Some insurance premiums down slightly in quarter

by Elaine Frei
According to AA, average car insurance premiums dropped a bit in the first quarter of the year, falling from an all-time peak last year. The latest edition of the British motoring association’s British Insurance Premium Index reports that the average premium quote for an annual comprehensive car policy dropped by £4 to £802 by the end of the ...

---

April 10, 2007

European markets see gains

by Elaine Frei
The Asia and Pacific markets were mixed on Tuesday, with most markets higher but Tokyo seeing declines. In India, the Sensex added 0.09 percent to 13,189.54. The Singapore Straits Times index was 0.67 percent to 3,422.62, while the Hang Seng index gained 0.68 percent to 20,347.87 in Hong Kong. In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries added 1.25 percent to close at ...

---

Banks could reveal overcharge costs by summer

by Elaine Frei
There is a possibility that banks could be forced to reveal just how much they have paid to customers in claims for overcharges when they report interim results later in the year. So far they have refused to disclose exactly how many claims have been made and how much they have been forced to give back, but it might ...

---

FSA looks at UK sub-prime mortgage lenders

by Elaine Frei
With sub-prime mortgage lenders in the United States in the midst of somewhat of a crisis, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) wants to make sure that UK borrowers who secure sub-prime loans - either through convenience or because that is their only option - are being treated with fairness by lenders. The FSA’s inquiry follows its look last year ...

---

April 9, 2007

US, Asia markets up as European markets remain closed for holiday

by Elaine Frei
In Asia on Monday the markets that were open saw significant gains on the session. In Singapore, the Straits Times index was 1.57 percent higher to 3,400. Meanwhile in India, the Sensex gained 2.5 percent to 13,177.74. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 1.5 percent to 17,743.76, while the Topix index gained 1.2 percent to ...

---

Survey: 8 percent admit to filing fraudulent insurance claims

by Elaine Frei
According to a new survey by Experian (LSE: EXPN), almost one in ten adults - 8 percent - in the UK admit that they have filed a fraudulent insurance claim at one time or another. The survey, which was meant to discover how consumers feel about insurance fraud, shows that most people are aware of what insurance ...

---

Consumer advisors split on 125 percent mortgage

by Elaine Frei
Groups that offer advice to consumers are split on their opinion of a new 125 percent mortgage set to be offered by Alliance & Leicester (LSE: AL). The new product, called a PlusMortgage, will combine a mortgage with an unsecured personal loan and it aimed at helping first-time home buyers. Citizens Advice Bureau and National Debtline have both had harsh ...

---

April 6, 2007

Trading the Global Markets: Dow Jones DAX and EURO STOXX 50

by Khurram Naik
You may have heard of the DJ DAX and EURO STOXX and you're wondering what these are. Contrary to what you might expect, they're not stores in SoHo or slim geeks dueling on the wheels of steel. These are both equity futures contracts traded at Eurex, which is the second largest derivatives exchange in the world ...

---

April 5, 2007

FTSE 100, 250 higher on interest rate decision

by Elaine Frei
Equities markets in the Asia and Pacific region were mixed on Thursday, with the Australian and Tokyo markets mostly lower on the session but just about everyone else higher. In Singapore, the Straits Times Index added 0.39 percent to 3,345.86, while the Sensex gained 0.54 percent to 12,856.08 in India. In Australia, though, the Sydney Ordinaries dropped ...

---

Survey: Northern Ireland house prices up 14.6 percent in first quarter

by Elaine Frei
According to a new survey by Nationwide, average house prices in the UK rose by a seasonally adjusted 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2007 to £175,554. This brings the annual percentage increase in house prices to 9.5 percent. In the previous quarter, the average price of a home was at £172,065, the ...

---

Barclays sells low-performance sub-prime credit unit

by Elaine Frei
In an attempt to reduce its exposure to bad debt, Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) has sold the majority of its Monument sub-prime credit unit to US-based Compucredit (NAS: CCRT) for £390 million ($769 million), around £100 million less than its book value. Monument, part of Barclaycard, was the bank’s lowest-performing division. With the sale, Barclays ...

---

April 4, 2007

Asian markets in substantial gains on session

by Elaine Frei
With oil prices dropping on the news that Iran will release 15 British sailors captured almost two weeks ago in what it said were Iranian waters, Asian and Pacific equities markets saw gains on Wednesday. In Australia, the S&P/ASX300 added 1.4 percent to close at 6,097.2, a new record, after the Reserve Bank of Australia decided to keep interest ...

---

Bank customers “annoyed” but willing to pay fees

by Elaine Frei
Two new surveys show that many UK bank customers are “annoyed” with their banks over interest rates but would still be willing to pay a small fee to keep an account if their account provider would drop penalty charges and offer better service. A survey by consumer group Which? says that almost half of their members are unhappy with the ...

---