The FTSE 100 was 0.5% lower at 6,093 on the last trading day of April, dragged down by weak energy and financial stocks, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 index was flat at 16,850.Asian trading was generally positive with Japan's Nikkei 225 index up 2% and China's Hang Seng index up 0.2%.In the commodities space, Brent oil prices were 8% higher at $17.20 per barrel and Gold was 0.4% up at $1,720 per...

The FTSE 100 recovers from Thursday's decline, up 30 points to 7,532.21. This move was aided by a rally in Wall Street as Treasury yields retreated following some strong US economic data regarding trade and factory orders.Bank HSBC (HSBA) retreats 1.7% to 708.85p as it reveals first quarter pre-tax profits are down 4% to $4.8bn due to higher operating costs. The bank did report a revenue...

The FTSE 100 recovered its opening losses to be in positive territory after some good news by supermarket giant Tesco (TSCO). However, the market remains on tender hooks awaiting prime minister Theresa May's speech at Conservative Party conferenceCorporate news is led by Tesco gaining 1.8% to 193.83p as it reports its turnaround is 'firmly on track'. The company's group sales are up 3.3% to...

Steel-to-mining giant Evraz (EVR), the largest coking coal producer in Russia, rises 5% to 241.9p on strong full year results, reflecting a surge in the coking coal price as well as cost-cutting initiatives. CEO Alexander Frolov remains 'cautiously optimistic about the market environment' and believes Evraz will generate resilient free cash flow and further decrease leverage during 2017.Cyber...

Pawnbroker H&T (HAT:AIM) is up 71% since we flagged the stock in late 2014 - and the rally could have further to run.A contrarian call at the time, H&T was struggling in the aftermath of a gold price collapse and stricter consumer lending rules.Investors remain wary of consumer lending stocks: FTSE 100 giant Provident (PFG) has shed 12% of its value in the last 12 months while Non-Standard...

Investors are concerned about home credit company International Personal Finance's (IPF) eye-watering £20m appeal against a local tax authority in Poland.If the appeal fails, IPF may be in hot water with its shareholders who have cautiously sold stock, causing the business to trade 7.9% lower at 162p.The company says its Polish operations, Provident Polska, is appealing a decision by the...

London's FTSE 100 nudges 2.3 points higher to 7,197.6 on Friday, its subdued start following on from a run of record closing highs as investors look to eurozone retail sales numbers, German factory orders and the French trade balance this morning and US trade balance and jobless data out this afternoon.Conveyor belt specialist Fenner (FENR) tops the FTSE All-Share board, bouncing 13% higher to...

London's FTSE 100 opens 11.8 points lower at 7,010 despite gains on Wall Street and in Asia, with investors skittish over Brexit jitters and awaiting the European Central Bank's rate call soon after midday.A trio of profit warnings rock investor sentiment early on, with components and systems maker Senior (SNR) crashing 21% lower to 161.9p on another earnings alert. The engineer warns its...

Stockbroker Liberum expects small and mid cap banks to bear the brunt of the sell-off when London markets open at 8am.Under assumptions of a 12.5% decline in the FTSE 250 today, specialist lenders Shawbrook (SHAW) could fall 38.4%, Aldermore (ALD) could retreat 31.5% and consumer lender International Personal Finance (IPF) could dip 29.1%.Stock futures for the FTSE 100 point to an 8% drop in...

Consumer lender International Personal Finance (IPF) sinks 8.4% to 239p as poor performance in Mexico and higher impairments add to regulatory woes in Poland and Slovakia.IPF is closing its Slovakian business and 'actively monitoring' developments in Poland, one of its largest markets, says chief executive Gerard Ryan in a first quarter trading statement.And Mexico, a key growth market for...

Investors should not be too critical of Warren Buffett after the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A:NYSE) moved the goal posts on measuring performance at the sprawling insurance and industrial conglomerate.Buffett watcher Keith Ashworth-Lord, who runs the ConBrio Sanford Deland UK Buffettology Income (GB00B3QQFJ66) fund, says the changes make sense as Berkshire's business model...

Consumer lender International Personal Finance (IPF) is the biggest loser on the FTSE 350 index (24 Feb) as regulatory pressures weigh on its key central and eastern European markets.The lender is being forced to adjust its business model. This is a result of regulatory change in Poland, which is implementing a banking tax and capping the fees IPF charges to customers; and Slovakia banning the...

Running with the theme of declining mining stocks that dogged the previous session, the FTSE 100 opens on the downside as markets across Europe continue to decline on the back of falling copper and crude prices.Mining giants BHP Billiton (BHP) and Anglo-American (AAL) lead the fallers on the the FTSE 100, shedding 7% and 6% respectively. Commodity trader Glencore (GLEN) is also among the...

UK stocks are on the up in early trade on Monday after better-than-expected Chinese data on retail sales and industrial production over the weekend. Retail sales in the world's second largest economy jumped 11.2% in November, beating the 11.1% forecast and following a 11% rise in October.The benchmark FTSE 100 index rallies more than 40 points, or close to 0.7%, although just fails to break...

UK stocks decline in early trade on Friday as crude prices continue to slide, sending oil producers into the red. Industry giants Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) and BP (BP.) are among the major drags on the blue chip fallers as Brent crude drops 0.1% to $39.68 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate loses 0.2% to $36.68 per barrel. The carnage also sparks a 7.7% slump at Premier Oil (PMO), among the...

Non executive director Tony Hales' contrarian £95,000 share purchase at international consumer lender International Personal Finance (IPF) could signal negative investor sentiment towards the stock is overdone.Adverse legislation in Poland through the introduction of a fee cap on loans in the country has hit IPF's stock price hard because it earns 40% of its revenue in the country.Shares in...

Getting a drug or medicine from under a microscope in a science lab and onto a doctor's prescription pad is not for investors with a low appetite for risk or those looking to get rich quick. The rewards for companies developing the next wonder drug could be high. Their work may create products generating $1 billion of revenue a year, but these development phase companies also carry huge...

London's blue chip FTSE index falls 10 points to 6,728 as oil prices hit a three month low. Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) sheds 3p to £18.15 on the news, while BP (BP.) falls 0.4% to 426.7p and BG Group (BG.) drops 0.3% to £10.67.Financial recruitment consultant Michael Page International (MPI) sheds 2.5% to 541p on a second quarter trading updatecovering the three months to 30 June. Net fee...

The FTSE 100 trades 50.27 points higher at 6,723 following news that Greece is to remain in the Eurozone after securing a third bailout from its creditors.Asset managers are boosted by gains overnight in Asia and improved investor sentiment. Schroders (SDR), the largest-listed UK asset manager, gains 1.5% to £31.51, while Henderson (HGG) adds 1.6% to 266p and Jupiter (JUP) gains 0.9% to 440p....

The trend is well and truly the investor's friend in the stock market's bull run.Research by analysts at Liberum (see tables later) shows stocks gaining on results day enjoy market-beating performance for the next six months. Results day winners go on to outperform results day losers by 7.8%, according to Liberum's study of performance over the last four years.Building on Liberum's research,...