Posts from — March 2012

Where to Spread Bet on FirstGroup?

You can spread bet on FirstGroup with any of the following companies:

• Financial Spread
• InterTrader
• IGIndex

Although note that you can also spread bet with other Spread Betting Companies.

Spread Betting on FirstGroup

If an investor wants to invest in firms such as FirstGroup then one solution could be spread trading on the FirstGroup share price.

If you were to look at the InterTrader spread betting website, as of Friday, they were showing the FirstGroup Rolling Daily market at 242.9p – 243.9p. This means an investor can spread bet on the FirstGroup share price:

• Rising above 243.9p, or
• Falling below 242.9p

Whilst spread trading on UK equities you trade in £x per penny. As a result, should you decide to invest £20 per penny and the FirstGroup share price moves 5p then there would be a difference to your bottom line of £100. £20 per penny x 5p = £100.

Rolling Daily Shares Markets

You should note that this is a Rolling Daily Market which means that there is no settlement date for this market. If your trade is open at the end of the day, it just rolls over to the next day.

If a trade is rolled over and you are spread betting on the market to:

• Move up – then you normally pay a small overnight financing fee, or
• Move down – then a small payment is often credited to your account

You can find more on Rolling Daily Markets, as well as a fully worked example, in our feature Rolling Daily Spread Betting.

FirstGroup Rolling Daily Shares Trading Example

Now, if you consider the spread of 242.9p – 243.9p and assume that:

• you have done your analysis of the markets, and
• it leads you to think that the FirstGroup share price will go higher than 243.9p

then you might buy at 243.9p for a stake of £10 per penny.

Therefore, you win £10 for every penny that the FirstGroup shares rise above 243.9p. Nevertheless, you will make a loss of £10 for every penny that the FirstGroup market goes lower than 243.9p.

Considering this from another angle, should you ‘Buy’ a spread bet then your P&L is worked out by taking the difference between the settlement price of the financial spreads betting market and the price you bought the market at. You then multiply that price difference by your stake.

As a result, if after a few trading sessions the share price started to increase then you might want to close your trade and therefore guarantee your profits.

Taking this a step further, if the market rose then the spread, set by the spread betting company, might move up to 251.6p – 252.6p. You would close your position by selling at 251.6p. So, with the same £10 stake your profit would come to:

Profit / loss = (Settlement Level – Initial Level) x stake
Profit / loss = (251.6p – 243.9p) x £10 per penny stake
Profit / loss = 7.7p x £10 per penny stake
Profit / loss = £77.00 profit

Speculating on equities, whether by spread betting or otherwise, may not go to plan. In this example, you wanted the share price to increase. Nevertheless, the share price could go down.

If the FirstGroup stock dropped then you might decide to settle/close your spread bet in order to limit your losses.

Should the spread fall back to 234.8p – 235.8p you would settle your trade by selling at 234.8p. If so, this would result in a loss of:

Profit / loss = (Settlement Level – Initial Level) x stake
Profit / loss = (234.8p – 243.9p) x £10 per penny stake
Profit / loss = -9.1p x £10 per penny stake
Profit / loss = -£91.00 loss

Note: FirstGroup Rolling Daily market correct as of 30-Mar-12.

FirstGroup Spread Betting – More Details

For more information on trading FirstGroup, also see FirstGroup Spread Betting.

Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital. You may lose more than your initial investment. It may not be suitable for all investors. Only speculate with money that you can afford to lose. Please ensure you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.

The FTSE 100 has managed to push higher this morning, around 15 points up, as bulls attempt to produce a reasonable end to a very good quarter for stock markets.

Investors can look back on the past three months with a degree of satisfaction, after the impressive run higher for the indices spread betting markets. However, the future looks less assured.

As at the beginning of the year, the Eurozone crisis is still with us, although the focus is now more on Spain and Italy than Greece, and now we have increasing concerns about the health of China to contend with.

Nonetheless, this morning UK stocks have risen on a broad front, with banks lifted ahead of the Eurozone summit in Copenhagen.

The hope is that Germany will soften its stance and allow the various bailout funds to be enlarged, providing more firepower to combat the crisis.

Mining stocks have also gained this morning, as the commodities spread betting markets rise thanks to a weaker dollar, following sharp losses in yesterday’s session.

As well as the Eurozone summit, there is US data to keep an eye on, including personal consumption data, the Chicago PMI and the final reading of the March Michigan confidence index.

US markets are expected to build on the late session gains made last night, with the Dow starting 50 points higher.

Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital. You may lose more than your initial investment. It may not be suitable for all investors. Only speculate with money that you can afford to lose. Please ensure you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.

Financial Market Comments from Chris Beauchamp, Market Analyst, IG Index.

The above comments do not constitute investment advice and Clean Financial accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of them.

Content provided by IG Index which is Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. FSA Register number 114059.

Yet another weak start for the UK 100 sees the leading index give back another 20 points in mid-morning trading.

The performance of the indices spread betting market so far this week is eerily similar to last week, with a heavy sell-off taking place.

With US GDP revisions out today and a Eurozone summit scheduled for tomorrow, the hope now is that the bulls can engineer a rally based on continued strength in US data and an agreement to bolster the Eurozone’s bailout fund.

After such a strong quarter, this rally is ending with a whimper rather than a bang, perhaps understandably given the run up in global markets.

With a Spanish strike and an Italian bond auction planned for today, there is enough to keep investors on edge in advance of the European meeting in Copenhagen tomorrow.

In the UK, transport firm FirstGroup has come to a juddering halt after it warned on margins at its UK business, slumping 16% to levels not seen since March 2009.

As well as the afore-mentioned US GDP revision today, we have weekly jobless numbers and the Kansas City manufacturing index out later, while three Fed board members will also make policy speeches.

The Dow is expected to start around 10 points lower this afternoon, although a better US GDP figure could see that reverse.

Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital. You may lose more than your initial investment. It may not be suitable for all investors. Only speculate with money that you can afford to lose. Please ensure you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.

Financial Market Comments from Chris Beauchamp, Market Analyst, IG Index.

The above comments do not constitute investment advice and Clean Financial accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of them.

Content provided by IG Index which is Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. FSA Register number 114059.

After a very quiet open for markets, the FTSE is slipping lower, as a weaker UK GDP reading begins to take effect and comments about more US QE lose their power.

This morning has seen little economic data to drive markets, while UK GDP data had little effect, despite the small downward revision to growth between the third and fourth quarters of 2011.

Although the comments from the beginning of the week about more QE in the US continue to prevent any further losses, the atmosphere remains rather ‘risk off’ so far this morning.

In London, an expensive year for Lloyd’s of London has hurt insurance shares, with Prudential and RSA suffering the heaviest falls.

Further points have been taken off the index as several major stocks, including Anglo American and Schroders, go ex-dividend.

On the forex spread betting market, the downward revision to GDP, from -0.2% to -0.3%, caused a brief flurry of selling on the GBP/USD, moving sterling away from its highs for the year so far.

On this afternoon’s schedule are US durable goods orders for February, but both the Dow and S&P 500 are expected to start the day close to where they finished Tuesday’s session.

Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital. You may lose more than your initial investment. It may not be suitable for all investors. Only speculate with money that you can afford to lose. Please ensure you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.

Financial Market Comments from Yusuf Heusen, Sales Trader, IG Index.

The above comments do not constitute investment advice and Clean Financial accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of them.

Content provided by IG Index which is Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. FSA Register number 114059.

The FTSE spread betting markets 2012 uptrend has returned to form, as the leading index adds another 25 points in mid-morning trading.

After yesterday’s stellar gains, markets have put on further advances, buoyed by hopes of yet more largesse from the world’s central banks.

Once again we are through the looking glass, in a world where stocks rise on hopes that US economic data will weaken, since this then raises the probability that the Fed will launch QE3.

We remain stuck in a world where markets seem unable to cope without the possibility of monetary stimulus, underscoring the fact that the global economy still has some way to go before its successfully weaned off active central bank intervention.

In corporate news, insurer Resolution languishes near the bottom of the FTSE 100, after investors reacted negatively to plans to split the company’s operations.

At the other end of the spectrum, state-owned leviathan RBS surged 6% on reports that the government is planning to sell part of its stake in the bank to Abu Dhabi.

There is plenty of US data to keep traders busy this afternoon, including home price data, consumer confidence and the Richmond Fed manufacturing index.

Wall Street is expected to resume its march higher this afternoon, with the Dow beginning 35 points up and the S&P 500 rising by 3 points.

Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital. You may lose more than your initial investment. It may not be suitable for all investors. Only speculate with money that you can afford to lose. Please ensure you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent financial advice where necessary.

Financial Market Comments from Ben Critchley, Sales Trader, IG Index.

The above comments do not constitute investment advice and Clean Financial accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of them.

Content provided by IG Index which is Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. FSA Register number 114059.