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FTSE ends session higher yet again

The bigger companies had a good finish to the day, with telecoms giant BT Group and Rolls-Royce announcing some decent results.  With Wall Street opening positively it helped London have a good closing period. The FTSE 100 closed up 84 points at 4,631, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 172 points at 7,934, and for those that are interested, the FTSE Small Caps closed up 6 points at 2,372.

Over the pond, a good morning for Wall Street.  US stocks did well in morning trade, with some better than expected economic data helping the feeling, despite jobs numbers not being so good. By the time London closed the DJIA was up 152 points at 9,223, whilst the S&P500 was up 18 points at 993, and the Nasdaq up 30 points at 1,999.

Back here in London, it was Telecoms group BT that had the best day, closing up over 14p at 126.9p after news that Q1 revenues rose 1% to £5.24 bln, which was better than forecast. The EBITDA was down 3% to £1.37 bln, but this didn’t concern investors.

Aero engine maker Rolls-Royce also had a goodd ay, closing up nearly 33p at 408p after announcing underlying pre-tax profits of £445m, up 9%, for the half year to 30June. The group also said its order book had increased by £2 bln to a record £57.5 bln during the 6 months.

The heavyweighht miners also did ok today, with Lonmin closing up 105p at 1,360p, Rio Tinto up 166p at 2,462p, BHP Billiton closing up 78p at 1,579.5p, and Kazakhmys up 45.5p at 833.5p.  Kaz did say that output is likely to be lower in the second half of the year, but should still meet targets. Antofagasta said that its copper production, at 218 tons, was ahead of budget in H1, helping the share price to close up some 54p at 762.5p.

FXLR Daily Roundup – 30th July 2009

An active day in the room, with much going on.   A losing day, but the markets aren’t behaving.  It was a good day chat-wise, with much contribution and suchlike, with some ‘punt’ trades by members also coming off well.  Good stuff.

Summary

- Total: -33 pips.
- 6 Live Room trade calls; 2 wins, 2 breakevens, 2 losses.

Live room trades

GBP/JPY - Long Call (+10 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 156.32
1st Level: 156.52, +20 pips
2nd Level: 156.32, +0 pips
Stop: 156.07
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

USD/CHF - Short Call (-25 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.0850
1st Level: 1.0875, -25 pips
Stop: 1.0875
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

GBP/USD - Short Call (+0 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.6494
1st Level: 1.6494, +0 pips
Stop: 1.6519
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

GBP/USD - Short Call (-25 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.6469
1st Level: 1.6494, -25 pips
Stop: 1.6494
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

AUD/USD - Short Call (+7 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 0.8235
1st Level: 0.8220, +15 pips
2nd Level: 0.8235, +0 pips
Stop: 0.8260
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

USD/JPY - Long Call (+0 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 95.69
1st Level: 95.69, +0 pips
Stop: 95.44
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)
Have a good evening.

FXLR team
www.forexliveroom.com

FXLR Daily Roundup – 29th July 2009

An even day, today, but not for all, with some members yet again embarrassing us a little! Well done, guys, some clever trades.  Lots of chat and some very good trades amongst the chat.

Summary

- Total: -3 pips.
- 3 Live Room trade calls; 1 win, 1 breakeven, 1 loss.

Live room trades

GBP/USD - Short Call (-25 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.6354
1st Level: 1.6379, -25 pips
Stop: 1.6379
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

EUR/USD - Short Call (+0 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.4029
1st Level: 1.4029, +0 pips
Stop: 1.4054
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

GBP/USD - Short Call (+22 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.6395
1st Level: 1.6375, +20 pips
2nd Level: 1.6371, +24 pips
Stop: 1.6420
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

Have a good evening.

FXLR team
www.forexliveroom.com

FXLR Daily Roundup – 28th July 2009

A very enjoiyable day in the room, with a few new guys chirping up with some good comments and questions.  It would have been even better had the two Cable-Dollar trades gone further on-side before reversing, taking our 25 pip stop out on both occasions.  Still, +86 pips on the day and some good experience for all.

Summary

- Total: +86 pips.
- 7 Live Room trade calls; 5 wins, 2 losses.

Live room trades

GBP/USD - Short Call (-25 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.6513
1st Level: 1.6538, -25 pips
Stop: 1.6538
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

GBP/JPY - Short Call (+51 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 157.03
1st Level: 156.81, +22 pips
2nd Level: 156.23, +80 pips
Stop: 157.28
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

EUR/USD - Short Call (+31 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.4269
1st Level: 1.4253, +16 pips
2nd Level: 1.4223, +46 pips
Stop: 1.4294
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

GBP/USD - Short Call (+23 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.6501
1st Level: 1.6480, +21 pips
2nd Level: 1.6476, +25 pips
Stop: 1.6526
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

GBP/USD - Short Call (-25 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.6435
1st Level: 1.6460, -25 pips
Stop: 1.6460
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

USD/CAD - Long Call (+10 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.0859
1st Level: 1.0869, +10 pips
Stop: 1.0834
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

EUR/JPY - Short Call (+21 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 133.85
1st Level: 133.65, +20 pips
2nd Level: 133.63, +22 pips
Stop: 134.10
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

Have a good evening.

FXLR team
www.forexliveroom.com

Finally - A Downturn - or FTSE just dragged down by banks…?

The headline shares finished the day down and failed to break a record by posting a twelfth consecutive gain. We’re not surprised, of course.  It can’t just be the temptation for profit taking, surely?  The banks and commodity stocks had a poor day., pulling the Index down, but the run had to end sooner or later. News from the US was that there is falling consumer confidence in the US for July. The FTSE 100 closed down 57 points at 4528.

One to note was Yell Group, the publisher of the Yellow Pages Directory, which closed down some 7.5% today, down 2.5P to 30.25p. Barclays had said that it had sold nearly 1.9m shares, which brought its Yell holding down to just over 47m shares - now under 6% of the issued share capital.

We feel that the bear market rally has had its day now.

Another winning day!  The FTSE makes it ten gains in a row

The major shares had another good day, making it tenth successive winning day for the FTSE.  Mobile phone giant Vodafone had a fairly good update, and the financial sector gave the Index some firm support.  The utilities didn’t have such a good day, carrying on from the Ofwat news yesterday, and Wall Street had a rather fence-sitting start on this last tarding session of the week.  The FTSE 100 closed up over 16 points at 4,576, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 51 points at 7,938, and for those that are interested the FTSE Small Caps closed up 20 points at 2,345.

Over the pond things weren’t so rosy during the morning session, with Amazon’s rather downbeat news causing a few jitters, together with some cautious stuff from Amazon.com, Microsoft and Ericsson.

By the time London closed, The DJIA was down about 32 points at 9,036, whilst the S&P500 was down 6 points at 970, and the Nasdaq down 24 points at 1,949.

Back here in London news from mobile phone giant Vodafone that its revenue was up 9.3% in the last quesrter, but was taking a hit during crunch times saw them close down 3.35p at 120. It was the exchange rate gains and acquisitions that helped the revenue figure.  Domestic revenue is down.

FXLR Daily Roundup – 24th July 2009

Not much on today trade-wise, just a single trade for +20 pips, with the 2nd half closed at even.  Members did take some earlier ones, so well done there, guys.  The training session was enjoyable, with some good input from the Room.

Summary

- Total: +10 pips.
- 1 Live Room trade calls; 1 win.

Live room trades

GBP/JPY - Short Call (+10 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 155.62
1st Level: 155.42, +20 pips
2nd Level: 155.62, +0 pips
Stop: 155.87
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

Have a great weekend.

FXLR team
www.forexliveroom.com

FTSE enjoys 9th sucessive day of gains

The headline shares had yet another positive day - that’s 9 in a ro.  We’re more surprised than anyone.  But that’s by-the-by.  It was a late rally from the miners that helped, together with the banks & other financials, as the utilities had a poor day. Ofwat called for a 4% reduction in household water bills. The FTSE 100 closed up 66 points at almost 4,560, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 93 points at 7,887, and for those that are interested the FTSE Small Caps closed up 40 points at 2,325.

Over the pond, US stocks had a decent start during their monring session, breaking the 9,000 mark again, with investors feeling happy about news on the hme sales figures showing an increase for the 3rd consecutive month in June. By the time London closed, the DJIA was up some 178 points at 9,059, whilst the S&P500 was up 20 points at 975, and the Nasdaq up 38 points to 1,965.

Back here in London it was the mining shares that had the best day, as metal prices were up. Kazakhmys closed up 70.5p at 811p, whilst Rio closed up 95p at 2,410p, and Vedanta up 126p at 1,712p.  Silver miner Fresnillo also had a good day, closing up 44p at 634p.

On the other hand, news that water regulator Ofwat has called for a 4% reduction in household bills by 2015 didn’t do the utilities any favours. This would mean the avearge water bill will fall by at least £14 and up to £330. The supply companies reacvted accordingly, with United Utilities closing down 23.25p at just over 479p, Severn Trent down 81p at 1,032p, and Pennon Group down 17p at 490.5p.

Global catering firm Compass Group was the biggest blue chip casualty of the day, closing down 26.5p at 326.25p after saying it anticipates organic growth slowing in Q3 due to the challenging conditions.  It added that it expects its full year organic revenue growth to show ‘little or no improvement’.

The oil majors did ok as the price of the black stuff was now at some US$66.50 bbl.  BP closed up 5.7p at 511.15p, RD Shell up 14p at 1,560p, and BG Group up 5p at 1,075p.

FXLR Daily Roundup – 23rd July 2009

Both early trades stopped out by a couple of pips before decent runs the correct way.  One member bagging +94 and +54 on each with their second closes.  well done.  Maybe a +30 pip stop would have given us the same.  Otherwise there was lots of chat and a couple of winning trades in the afternoon session. The community is building nicely.
Summary

- Total: -16 pips.
- 4 Live Room trade calls; 2 wins, 2 losses.

Live room trades

GBP/JPY - Long Call (-25 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 155.93
1st Level: 155.68, -25 pips
Stop: 155.68
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

EUR/USD - Short Call (-25 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.4204
1st Level: 1.4229, -25 pips
Stop: 1.4229
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

USD/CAD - Short Call (+34 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.0895
1st Level: 1.0872, +23 pips
2nd Level: 1.0850, +45 pips
Stop: 1.0920
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

EUR/JPY - Long Call (+0 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 135.35
1st Level: 135.35, +0 pips
Stop: 135.10
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)
Have a good evening.

FXLR team
www.forexliveroom.com

The FTSE Closes Up for 8th Day Running

The bigger blue chips had a fairly good day, closing up modestly as the afternoon session picked up. The miners and financials didn’t have such a good day, but the safe-haven of the utilities helped the Index. This is the 8th day in a row the FTSE has closed up.  We expect the steam to run out very soon, if not tomorrow.

The FTSE100 closed up 12 points at 4,493, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 51 points at 7,794, and for those that are interested the FTSE Small Caps closed down nearly 5 points at just under 2,285.

Over the pond, Wall Street stocks were mixed in a choppy morningsession, with falling crude oil prices hitting the energy sector. As London closed, the DJIA was just about even at 8,915, the S&P500 also even at 955, and the Nasdaq slightly up, 6 points to the better at 1,923.

Back here in London, the FT published a survey of more than 100 top UK companies which showed over half of them were still not anticipating any improvement in their prospects for at least another year.

BHP gave some poor news on their iron ore production, which was down 10% in Q4, adding that China’s stock build up seems just about there now. This gave pressure on the other mining heavyweights, although some held firmer due to the copper price rising. Lonmin was the hardest hit, down 37p at 71,136p and Kazakhmys was off 16p at 740.5p, while BHP Billiton closed down 27.5p at 1,502.5p. On the other hand, Vedanta closed up 18p at 1,586p, Rio Tinto up 31p at 22,315p, and Randgold Resources closed up 2p at 4,007p.

On to the black stuff, where oil companies made progress as crude oil edged towards US$65 bbl mark. BG Group had the best day, up 18p at 1,070p, with BP up 0.15p at 505.45p, Tullow Oil up 21p at 976p, and Cairn Energy up 51p at 2,435p.