The end of the tax year is now just a couple of weeks away so if you want to make use of any remaining ISA allowance your window to do so is rapidly closing.In this article the Shares team has put its collective heads together to identify a quintet of funds which we think are worthy of inclusion as part of a diversified portfolio. Some of these names may already be familiar but others are...

Bunzl CEO buys £303,110 sharesCMC deputy CEO buys £420,284 sharesC&C CEO buys 100,000 sharesFrank van Zanten, chief executive of outsourcing business Bunzl (BNZL), bought 10,000 shares for a total value of £303,110 on 6 March.Over the past month, Bunzl shares have fallen 14% despite the FTSE 100 company reporting a 2.2% rise in adjusted full year 2024 pre-tax profit (3 March), its 32nd year...

London's FTSE 100 ended little changed on Friday as strong UK retail sales lifted sentiment, while weak US business activity data and falling consumer confidence pressured Wall Street.The FTSE 100 index closed down just 3.60 points at 8,659.37. The FTSE 250 ended up just 1.12 points at 20,613.89, while the AIM All-Share closed up 1.48 points, 0.2%, at 718.02.For the week, the FTSE 100 was down...

London's FTSE 100 held steady on Friday as strong retail sales lifted sentiment, while UK borrowing concerns and mixed data capped gains. European markets were cautious ahead of Germany's upcoming election.The FTSE 100 index rose 9.70 points, 0.1%, at 8,672.67. The FTSE 250 jumped 170.56 points, 0.8%, at 20,783.33, and the AIM All-Share climbed 4.17 points, 0.6%, at 720.71.The Cboe UK 100 rose...

Q4 earnings exceed estimatesStrategy 'firing on all cylinders'Strong start to 2025Standard Chartered (STAN) topped the FTSE 100 in early dealings, the shares climbing 5% to a five-year high of £11.96 after the Asia, Africa and Middle East-focused bank delivered forecast-beating fourth-quarter earnings.In a show of confidence, the lender also launched a further US$1.5 billion buyback, bigger...

Dividends are a key component of successful investing whether taken as an income to support retirement or reinvested to compound future total returns.With interest rates set to fall as inflation is gradually brought back under control dividend yields will become more competitive as a source of income compared with income from cash and bonds.In this article we scour the FTSE 350 for the...

Earnings 'beat and raise'Interim dividend up 50%Buyback exceeds estimatesInvestors in London-based, Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered (STAN) were treated to a quadruple helping of good news as half-year earnings beat forecasts, leading the group to raise its full-year guidance, hike the interim dividend by 50% and launch its largest-ever share buyback.The shares climbed 43p or 6% to 770p,...

The FTSE 100 finished strong on Thursday, coinciding with a successful day for New York stocks in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve?s status quo interest rate decision on Wednesday evening.The FTSE 100 index closed up 50.91 points, 0.6%, at 8,172.15. The FTSE 250 ended up 125.74 points, 0.6%, at 20,052.33, and the AIM All-Share closed up 3.13 points, 0.4%, at 768.11.The Cboe UK 100 ended up...

London?s blue-chips made steady progress on Thursday, whilst mid-caps struggled for direction, as investors took stock of the latest US interest rate call.The FTSE 100 index rose 28.57 points, 0.4%, at 8,149.81. The FTSE 250 edged down just 3.93 points to 19,922.66, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.50 of a point, 0.1%, at 765.48.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.3% at 813.60, the Cboe UK 250 added 0.2%...

London?s FTSE 100 made a bright start to trading on Thursday, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell played down fears of an interest rate increase, although cuts remain on the back-burner.The FTSE 100 index rose 18.12 points, 0.2%, at 8,139.36. The FTSE 250 edged up just 4.56 points to 19,931.15, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.19 points, 0.2%, at 766.17.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at...

Standard Chartered Bank director sells £9.64 million sharesBAE Systems chair buys £180,779 sharesDarktrace CEO offloads over £700,000 sharesSimon Cooper, CEO corporate, commercial, and institutional banking, and Europe & Americas of Asian-focused Standard Chartered Bank (STAN) has sold 1,482,343 shares at 650p for a total value of £9.64 million on 14 March.The bank said last week that...

When a stock price makes a new 52-week high or low it is usually a sign of a strong trend. Going against the flow at these times is fraught with danger for investors betting for a sudden change in direction.That is because share prices tend to overshoot. Behavioural scientists have shown that investors overreact to bad news and underreact to good news.When bad news comes investors often sell...

Provisions for China business sink profitsBoard sticks to full-year targets£1.8 billion of market value erasedInvestors rounded on Asia- and Africa-focused bank Standard Chartered (STAN) after it missed earnings expectations for the third quarter due to provisions in China and a higher UK tax rate.The shares fell as much as 18% to a new six-month low of 588p shortly after the open, although...

According to Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's highly respected colleague and co-manager of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B:NYSE), 'All intelligent investing is value investing, acquiring more than you are paying for.'Or, as Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital Management puts it, 'It's not what you buy, it's what you pay, and success in investing doesn't come from buying good things but from buying...

The Schroder Recovery Fund (B3VVG60) aims to generate capital gains superior to the FTSE All-Share Total Return Index, net of fees, over a three- to five-year horizon by investing in 'UK companies which have suffered a severe setback in either share price or profitability'.The fund was launched back in 1970 and has stood the test of time, beating its target return over one, three and 10 years...

As this is the last instalment in our five step stock analysis series (and we would encourage you to go back and read parts one, two and three, we've decided to do something a bit different and examine a bank. This means using different measures of profitability, returns and valuation.To analyse a bank, you need to understand what it does, how it uses its balance sheet to make money and the...

Both banks please with resultsBuybacks the way to shareholders' hearts NatWest net interest margin target cutInvestors in NatWest (NWG) will be thinking they dodged a bullet today after the bank lowered its outlook but its shares actually went up instead of being sold off.Holders of Standard Chartered (STAN) will be even more chuffed as they see their shares race to the top of the FTSE 100...

There are an increasing number of large firms which are thinking about changing their main share listing from the UK to the US or elsewhere, raising fears London is losing its importance.This article explains why companies are giving serious thought to this issue and who might be next to press the button.Irish building materials giant CRH (CRH) is the latest firm to decide to move its main...

If most of us are asked to name a bank with large exposure to Asia, the likelihood is the first name that comes to mind is HSBC (HSBA) rather than its smaller rival Standard Chartered (STAN).In fairness, having been established in Hong Kong and Shanghai more than 150 years ago to help finance the burgeoning trade between the island, the mainland and Japan, the 'grande dame' of Asian banking...

London's FTSE 100 ended higher but peers in Frankfurt and Paris struggled for traction, as European equities underwhelmed at the start of the week amid little progress in US debt ceiling talks.'It's rather bonkers that US politicians seem to be playing a game of chicken with the US economy. Not reaching an agreement on raising the debt ceiling is unthinkable, but right now neither the...