As the leadership of the market has become ever more concentrated on just a handful of stocks there has been increasing interest in getting equal-weighted exposure to the markets.But what does this mean and what are the pros and cons of products which adopt such an approach? An equal-weighted index is one where all the constituents have the same weighting, unlike most indices which are weighted by

London's FTSE 100 reversed 24.2 points to 7,343.25 on Monday with investors spooked by the attack on Saudi oil facilities and flocking to safer havens such as gold. Markets were also weak across other parts of Europe and Asia where investors reacted in a similar manner to the oil price spike and how it might fuel inflation.In corporate news, Tullow Oil (TLW) gushed 9.9% higher to 244.3p on news th

London's FTSE 100 firms 37.4 points to 7,272 on Friday, boosted by miners which are up on hopes that the US and China are making progress with trade talks. Continued strength with oil prices is also giving the blue chip benchmark support with both BP (BP.) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) ticking higher.Drugs giant AstraZeneca (AZN) cheapens 4.2% to £62.21, despite inking a $6.9bn agreement with Daii

A rising pound, coupled with growing tensions over North Korea, has sent the FTSE 100 down by over 80 points in early trading.On the other side of the Atlantic, Wall Street yesterday rallied on the back of bank and tech stocks ending a three session slide.Among UK corporate news following the Easter break, decent third quarter trading from Ashmore (ASHM) fails to excite the market. Its shares dip

London's FTSE 100 firms 8.7 points to 7,376 points in early dealings, the market opening on a cautious note as the proposed departure of UK from the EU comes to the fore following Parliament's approval of Theresa May's Brexit Bill.Among the session's stand-out risers is building products distributor SIG (SHI), which skips 8.5% higher to 115.8p on the appointment of Brammer boss and turnaround expe

London shares rally higher in early deals on Wednesday as a string of miners, retailers and financials provide crisp direction following a positive turn on Wall Street overnight, and despite Asia's softness this morning. Europe is modestly ahead.The benchmark FTSE 100 index shoots up nearly 80 points, or about 1.3%, to 5,941 with midcaps also firmly up. Smaller companies also make gains, although

High Street bellwether Marks & Spencer (MKS) is marked down 1.8% to 436.2p as investors fret ahead of Thursday's (9 Jan) third quarter trading statement covering the crucial Christmas period. The Sunday Times claims festive trading was dismal, with deep discounts failing to arrest sliding sales with clothing and homewares revenues reversing up to 1.5% to heap further pressure on chief executive of