Darren Hepworth, Trading and Customer Services Director, TD Waterhouse comments:
"TD Waterhouse customer focus remained on Britain's biggest banks as the FTSE 100 gained on recent weeks, closing at 5,268.66 on Tuesday (30 August).
"Buys outnumbered sells by 1.5:1 with Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY), Barclays (BARC) and Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) taking the top three spots on the buys for the fourth consecutive week, accounting for over 63% of the top ten trades."
TOP TEN TD CUSTOMER BUYS
1. LLOYDS BANKING GROUP
2. ROYAL BK SCOT GRP
3. BARCLAYS
4. AVIVA
5. BP
6. GULF KEYSTONE PETR
7. TESCO
8. VODAFONE GROUP
9. RANGE RESOURCES
10. GLENCORE INTL PLC
TOP TEN TD CUSTOMER SELLS
1. LLOYDS BANKING GP
2. BARCLAYS
3. ROYAL BK SCOT GRP
4. GULF KEYSTONE PETR
5. XSTRATA PLC
6. SOUND OIL
7. GLENCORE INTL PLC
8. KAZAKHMYS
9. BP
10. ARM HLDGS
Darren Hepworth continues:
"Lloyds Banking Group retained the top spot in the sells this week and was also our customers' most popular buy, rising to the summit from last week's second place.
"Meanwhile, last week's top buy, Barclays, placed third this week and moved up one place to second in the sells. RBS completed the banking giants' command of the top three places in both the buys and sells tables, finishing in second and third spots respectively.
"However, it was not all about financials with seven new entries this week from the oil, mining and retail sectors. Tesco (TSCO) entered our top ten buys table in seventh place ahead of the company's announcement yesterday (31 August) that the supermarket is to sell its underperforming Japanese business.
"CEO Philip Clarke stated that Tesco has been unable to build a sufficiently scalable business and that a formal sale process would take place in due course, with Tesco set to focus on alternative Asian growth markets.
"Another new entrant to the buys, Glencore International (GLEN), entered the table in 10th place as the global commodities trader announced that it had acquired 14.1% of Optimum Coal Holdings Limited, which operates South Africa's third largest opencast mine.
"Alongside the two new entries in the buys table, there were five new entries in this week's sells, including an appearance for Kazakhstan based copper miner Kazakhmys (KAZ) in eighth place. The company announced its interim results last Thursday (25 August) and said that it would also look to proceed with the development of its key Bozshakol copper growth project.
"Kazakhmys was joined as a new entrant in the sells by top ten regulars Xstrata Plc (XTA), Sound Oil (SOU), Glencore and ARM Holdings (ARM), which took fifth, sixth, seventh and 10th places respectively."
