Stock Investing Tips

RBS LEADS THE FTSE CHARGE

The FTSE 100 Index remained near to its highest level since June 2008 on Friday as investors resisted the urge to take profits after a recent strong run.

The Federal Reserve's fresh stimulus for the US economy has heightened the appetite for risk and triggered a wave of buying across world markets.

The FTSE 100 jumped more than 100 points on Thursday and was close to its opening mark on Friday, down 7.2 points at 5855.6, despite uncertainty in the banking sector following updates from Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC.

RBS shares initially started on the front foot after it said bad debt impairments continued to drop and it achieved underlying earnings of £726 million for the third quarter. Overall losses for the period were £1.4 billion after its results continued to be skewed by volatility in accounting charges. But with the fourth quarter market environment set to remain challenging, particularly in investment banking, RBS shares dropped 1.8p to 45.3p.

Pressure on the sector also came from HSBC after it said its third quarter profits grew more slowly than in the first half. Bad debts continued to fall but shares were 12.7p lower at 682.4p, a decline of 2%.

Lloyds Banking Group, which impressed investors earlier this week with the appointment of Santander's UK boss as chief executive, added 0.1p to 70.3p.

Joining RBS at the top of the fallers board, Rolls-Royce lost another 3% after Qantas said the engine failure that forced an Airbus A380 to make an emergency landing was probably caused by a material failure or a design fault. Shares fell another 20p to 601.5p after dropping 5% on Thursday.