UK stocks closed well into the red on Thursday as the Government set out strict restrictions once lockdown ends on 2 December.Most of England will have tough measures to follow, with just the Isle of Scilly, Isle of Wight and Cornwall in the lightest tier one of the Covid tier restrictions.There was also no direction for investors from Wall Street, as US stock markets were closed due to...

UK stocks tumbled throughout morning trading on Thursday as the Government announced England's new regional Covid tiers.Tougher tier restrictions will see more people in England placed under the highest tier, though cities like Liverpool and the capital London have avoided the harshest measures.The new system will come into effect once lockdown ends on 2 December.By lunchtime the UK's...

The FTSE 100 made modest declines in early trading on Thursday in what is likely be a quiet-ish day with markets across the pond closing for the Thanksgiving holiday.At 9am, the benchmark FTSE 100 had slipped around 0.2% to was 6,376.64, led by falls for banks, construction and oil stocks, with tobacco firm Imperial Brands (IMB), Lloyds (LLOY) and house builder Persimmon (PSN) topping the FTSE...

Announcements from FTSE 350 companies are winding down after a busy few weeks of results for periods ending 30 June. But there is still plenty of stock market news scheduled, particularly from smaller, lesser-known, companies.Private investors favourites such as greeting cards seller Card Factory (CARD), posh chocs retailer Hotel Chocolat (HOTC:AIM), Xeros Technology (XSG:AIM), the laundry...

Neil Woodford, one of Britain's best known fund managers, has taken the opportunity to top-up holdings across a number of innovative businesses in recent weeks.A quick screen of the regulatory news service (RNS) reveals buying by Woodford Investment Management, the manager behind the CF Woodford Equity Income Fund (GB00BLRZQ513) and the early-growth focused Woodford Patient Capital Trust...

Many financial services companies give the impression that investors only top up their ISAs in the last few weeks of March and the first week of April, such is the intensity of their advertising during this period. That is not true. The clever investor is the one who invests throughout the year and not simply the days leading up to the end of the tax year.The new tax year is now underway and...

IP Group (IPO) spin-off Xeros (XSG:AIM), inventor of a patented low chemical, low water intensity washing machine, has pulled back from a pledge to self-fund the roll-out of its capital intensive machines.Former chief executive Bill Westwater, who led the company for seven years and was interviewed by Shares in April, said Xeros' capital position at the time 'was currently sufficient to reach...

Margin growth is stalling and valuations look stretched among the quoted engineers, meaning investors need to tread carefully when looking at stocks in the sector.Shares warned the rally in engineering stocks was running out of steam when we last looked at the sector (24 Apr 2014, Spanner in the Works). Total returns in the FTSE All-Share industrial engineering index have subsequently been...

UK stocks nudge lower in early trade on Thursday responding to disappointing purchasing managers' index (PMI) data from both China and Europe. Market falls also reflect a number of large cap stocks going ex-dividend. The benchmark FTSE 100 loses 26 points, or close to 0.4%, to 7,002, just about keeping its head above the 7,000 mark.Among the big corporate news stories on Thursday is the agreed...

Green investing does not have a good billing in the UK and barely features on the radars of institutional investors. This is not a matter of prejudice and two good reasons explain the indifference. First, there is only one company in the FTSE All-Share Alternative Energy sector and with a market value of £140 million industrial filtration expert Porvair (PRV) has absolutely no bearing on the...

Three directors of virtually-waterless washing machine designer Xeros Technology (XSG:AIM) have purchased shares following the company's maiden interims (30 Apr). The £58 million cap, which floated on 25 March, has an interesting proposition and we reckon investors should take notice of the bullish signal sent by the director dealings.Chairman John Samuel has invested £24,750 in buying...

The IPO market has always provided a fertile hunting ground for traders as new companies typically go to a premium in early trading. And the latest upswing in new issuance since the start of 2014 is proving no exception.According to Shares' research the 27 companies that floated in the initial three months of this year generated an average 4.9% potential first-day premium, that being the mean...

Home improvement giant Kingfisher (KGF) gains 5.5% at 428.9p as full-year figuresshow better-than-expected pre-tax profits, up 4.1% to £744 million. Raising the full-year dividend 4.7% to 9.9p, the B&Q DIY chain owner will return an extra £200 million to shareholders this year as part of a 'multi-year' programme of extra capital returns. There's also the sale of its stake in German DIY...