January 2012 UK Share Price and Stock Market News Archive

Hong Kong shares broke a winning streak of six sessions yesterday, dragged down by banks and developers for China, as investors made profits on recent outperformers at the same time all eyes remain on Greece debt-swap deal talks. As reported by Reuters, soft mainland markets that are back in trading after the week-long holiday for Chinese...

The chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland Stephen Hester has given in to political pressure and will not accept his bonus, which is worth almost £1m. The bonus was offered in the form of a shares-only payment , and was valued at £963,000. Chancellor George Osborne described the decision as "sensible and welcome", while...

A £963,000 bonus of shares awarded to RBS boss Stephen Hester was today strongly criticised. As reported by BBC News, Liberal Democrat minister Jeremy Browne commented that Hester is "a public servant" that should turn down his bonus while Unite branded the news "disgusting". The main opposition party, Labour, said...

Technical giant Apple posted record-breaking net profits in the final quarter of 2011 of $13.06bn (£8.36bn), an increase of 118% from the same quarter in 2010. In the same period it also more than doubled the number of iPhones it sold in the last quarter of 2010, with an incredible 37 million iPhones sold, according to the BBC. Chief...

Stock markets have fallen while eurozone finance ministers carry on putting further pressure on Greece's private creditors, who they want to accept lower interest rates on the loans they have made to Athens. BBC News reported that British and French share indexes ended up closing lower yesterday, while Wall Street dropped on opening....

Trading by Petroplus, owner of the Essex-based Coryton oil refinery, was yesterday suspended on Switzerland's SIX stock exchange, as reported by BBC News. Petroplus operates at the Coryton oil refinery, which employs 1,000 individuals whose jobs might now be affected or even at risk. The SIX stock exchange commented that the suspension was...

Asian stocks oscillated wildly between gains and losses during today's morning session while upbeat home sales data across the US overshadowed ever-present uncertainties over Greece's continuing debt negotiations in Greece, as reported by City Wire. Across most of Asia, activity was subdued because of the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday....

Bank shares have managed to lift European stock markets in the midst of hopeful economic signals, as reported by BBC News. Results from US banks, as well as a report suggesting that the ECB is providing further loans to banks than originally thought, are meant to be two of the main factors. Successful bond auctions from the French and...

Co-founder of Yahoo! Jerry Yang is to depart from the company after he announced his retirement to the board of directors. Mr Yang, who held the position of chief executive from June 2007 up until January 2009, established Yahoo! alongside David Filo in 1995. His decision to depart comes a fortnight after the online company announced that...

TUI Travel made its way into the spotlight at the start of the week after UBS hit the holiday firm with a "buy" rating that came with a 220p target price. The broker decided to add TUI to its expansive merger watch-list in the light of recent speculation that TUI AG, its parent company, has been looking to buy out the 45.5 per...

Tesco is standing by UK chief operating officer Noel ‘Bob’ Robbins following revelations that he sold shares worth £200,000, just days before the company issued a profits warning which saw £5 billion wiped from the value of Tesco shares. The supermarket firm claims that Mr Robbins was not in possession of any information that could be...

On Friday, JP Morgan announced that it accumulated lower fourth-quarter profits in 2011, which were triggered by complications from the eurozone debt crisis and weaker trading throughout its investment banking division, as reported by BBC News. The Wall Street bank generated a net profit of around $3.7bn in 2011's last three months, down...

The price of orange juice has hit record levels in the past few days due to fears that contamination may have affected supplies coming from Brazil, the world’s largest producer. The Food and Drug Administration in the US said that the fungicide carbendazim had been detected in some of the shipments coming from the South American...

Game Group, the high street video games retailer, has announced that poorer than expected trading over the Christmas period could see the firm breaching the terms of its loan agreements. The news saw share prices drop by a third. The British-based group, which operates in Australia as well as in nine European territories, has around 1,300...

Netflix, the DVD and video-streaming firm which saw its stock value take a nose-dive last year after announcing it had lost around 800,000 subscribers after it pushed up its prices, is continuing its dramatic come back. In 2011, a series of mistakes by the firm saw more than three-quarters of the value wiped from shares. However, in the...

A terribly dismal year means that Wall Street and its workers are set to be hit in their wallets, as alleged by a Wall Street Journal report. With banks preparing to report worrying fourth-quarter results while making final bonus decisions, total compensation appears likely to be its lowest since 2008 – the year the financial crisis...

Japan Airlines (JAL) is planning to put its shares back on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, according to a report from the BBC. The move is seen as the next step of the carrier's recovery from bankruptcy.Some have claimed that the company might sell between 500bn yen and 1trn yen of its shares and, should the sale be given the green light, JAL...

As at every turn of the year, last week’s celebrations have been dampened down by prophets of doom foretelling everything from global economic meltdown to geopolitical tensions sparking Armageddon. This year, the horror stories are being spiced up by frequent references to the controversial Mayan calendar, interpreted by some as predicting...