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Don’t forget to read the daily Spread Trading comment.

Each Monday the Spread Trading comment reviews the week ahead, here’s a sample from today:

There is quite a bit of data out this week with Vodaphone starting us off today and Brewin Dolphin (the stock broker) bringing up the rear on Friday, neatly breaking the unwritten rule of not reporting on a Friday.

Tuesday sees the aforementioned Vodafone releasing better than expected numbers but this will be over shadowed by Mr Sarin’s announcement that he will be leaving in July. One assumes that a replacement has already been identified otherwise it does not give the head-hunters long to earn their money.

The company has reported profits of some £13.2bn that will come as some relief to Alistair Darling whose take on this will be eye watering.

Aveva (another of those companies that got a PR company to change their name to something ‘dynamic’) have brought in the bacon with a 70% increase in net revenue to £47.9m. This is a company that actually

Read more: Spread Trading

Good Luck!

DB

Well it is taking a while and of course since we started this piece of work the FTSE 100 constituents have been moving to the FTSE 250 (eg Debenhams), taken off (eg Northern Rock) or Sold (eg ICI)…however we have been diligently ploughing on with creating a specific page for each FTSE 100 company…and we are now up to pages for 78 constituents…

What is it all about?

We want to create a simple reference point for you. A place where we offer some simple spread betting answers to your problems…eg looking at BAE…let’s say you want to spread bet on BAE…fine…but how?

We have some answers…

But how to spread bet on BAE?

We have some answers…

Q) Where can I Spread Bet on BAE?
Q) Where can I Trade for Free on BAE?
Q) How to Spread Bet on BAE?
Q) Where can I find Free Live Prices on BAE?
Q) Where can I find Free BAE Charts?

How to Spread Bet on BAE?

As with many financial markets, you can trade on the future price of shares, like BAE Systems shares, rising or falling. At the time of publication the BAE Systems (September) market is 498.1p - 500.5p with Financial Spreads. This market expires on 16-Sep-08.

Therefore you can spread bet on BAE shares settling: a) Above 500.5p, or b) Below 498.1p On the expiry date for this September futures market, 16-Sep-08.

When spread betting on FTSE 350 shares, you trade in £x per penny, where a penny is 1p of BAE Systems share price movement.

As an example if your stake was £10 per penny and the BAE shares move 4p then that would be a +/- £40 difference to your bottom line.

BAE Systems Spread Trading Example

Eg, let’s say, taking the above spread of 498.1p - 500.5p that you think the BAE Systems shares will rise above 500.5p on 16-Sep-08.

Therefore you could buy at 500.5p for a stake of, let’s say, £5 per penny.

And so let’s say that by the September closing date, the market closes at 548.p. If that happened then your P&L would be worked out as follows:

You take the difference between the final value of 548p and the opening price of 500.5p and then multiply that difference by the stake per penny of share price movement.

Profits = (548.0p - 500.5p) x £5 per penny stake.

= 47.5p x £5 per penny stake.

= £237.50 profit.

But had BAE Systems shares fallen and finished down at 455p, you would have lost.

= (455.0p - 500.5p) x £5 per penny stake.

Loss = -45.5p x £5 per penny stake. = -£227.50 loss.

Good Luck

DB

So Rentokil Initial have succumb to shareholder pressure and brought in a new management team.

But how to spread bet on Rentokil?

We have some answers…

Q) Where can I Spread Bet on Rentokil?
Q) Where can I Trade for Free on Rentokil?
Q) How to Spread Bet on Rentokil?
Q) Where can I find Free Live Prices on Rentokil?
Q) Where can I find Free Rentokil Charts?  

How to Spread Bet on Rentokil Initial?

Lets say the Rentokil (June) spread is 101.6p - 102.4p with FinancialSpreads.com.

Therefore you can spread bet on Rentokil shares settling:

a) Above 102.4p, or
b) Below 101.6p

On the expiry date for this ‘June’ market, 17-Jun-08.

With UK equities spread trading, you trade in £x per penny, where a penny is 1p of Rentokil Initial share price movement.

For example, if your stake was £15 per penny and the Rentokil shares move 10p then that would be a £150 difference to your bottom line.

Rentokil Worked Spread Betting Example

Eg, let’s say, taking the above spread of 101.6p - 102.4p, that after your market analysis you think that the Rentokil shares will finish above 102.4p on 17-Jun-08.

Therefore you could buy at 102.4p for a stake of, let’s say, £10 per penny.

Your profit / loss is found by taking the difference between the final share price and the price you made the spread bet at, 102.4p, and then multiplying that by the stake per penny of share price movement.

So if the share price settles at 115p, then:

Your profit = (115.0p - 102.4p) x £10 per penny stake

Your profit = 12.6p x £10 per penny = £126 profit.

Of course, the markets don’t always moving according to plan. If the market didn’t move as predicted and had the Rentokil shares fallen to 90p, then you would have lost money on your spread trade.

Your loss = (90.0p - 102.4p) x £10 per penny stake

Your loss = -12.4p x £10 per penny = -£124 loss.

(Note prices quoted as of 31-Jan-08)

Good Luck

BD

As mentioned below, we’re always trying to provide you with new thoughts, fact and opinion. Each weekday we now offer a free ‘closing comments’ update on the UK markets as they close.

Eg: Today’s comment was:

“Going into the final half hour of trading the FTSE remains weak, trading near session lows.

“The market has been on the back foot for most of the day with a brief rally evaporating by 9:00 a.m. The biggest casualty has been insurer Admiral Group. Although pre-tax profits came in as expected, it was the outlook for the year ahead that did the damage.

“Schroders surprised the market with a better than expected 35% rise in annual profits and this has helped it top the leader board for the day so far. But again, the company recognises that the year ahead could be a tricky one. Despite today’s rally, with the share price languishing near 18-month lows, investors may continue to bide their time before showing any confidence in the financial and bank sector.

“The continued downbeat outlook for the year ahead is not doing the FTSE 100 any favours at the moment. Today’s slide has put it back to levels not seen since mid-February.

“Taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture for a second, both the UK and US indices are currently stuck in broad sideways ranges that have been in place for the past few weeks. At the moment these markets are trading near the bottom end of this range so what we really need to see over the next couple of days is some strength to start coming in. However, if the FTSE 100 slips lower and breaks below the February lows around 5650, the worry for many investors may be that the trap door has opened once again and worse is yet to come.”

For more, simply see our ‘Late Trading Update‘.

Good Luck

BD

As always, we try to provide you with as much free spread betting and trading data as possible.

We’ve now added a new ‘Trading Features’ Section from industry professionals discussing various market opportunities, financial outlooks, spread betting growth areas and more. Topics include:

• Private Equity Markets
• Bank Sector Trading
• The Bear Market

Trading Features Sample

If the credit crunch continues for much longer, many of the huge debt deals that companies had been expecting to offload via stock market floats could start to experience certain problems. A number of them will now be coming up for a rollover of their initial financing deals. In a dog eat dog environment it does not take much of an imagination to see a large number of these projects unwinding as financiers ask for their money back rather than risk another loan period and then turn around and pick the asset up as the desperate borrower flails around for an exit…more on this Private Equity comment >>

Good Luck!

DB