News that Royal Bank of Scotland has begun the process to sell of its Williams & Glyn was well received by investors today.

The banking stock led early gains on the share price today, sending it up over 4 per cent to 41 pence (0915 hrs).

Williams & Glyn accounts for around two per cent of the British retail bank market and Santander and Virgin Money have been mooted as potential suitors for the branches.

Barclays, meanwhile, was also up in the early session. The news came after the bank moved to stamp out rumours that China Development Bank was mulling whether to sell its stake in the bank. Despite this, Barclays was trading up 2.2 per cent at 340.4 pence (0915hrs).

Elsewhere, there was no sign of Schroders light fading after yesterday’s stellar results, especially after two brokers issued renewed reports raising the price target on the stock. Singer Capital raised its price target from £12.50 to £13.75.

Market analysts said that trading activity on the whole is likely to remain flat this morning, until the latest US non-farm payroll data is released at 1330 hrs (GMT).

Nick Serff, market analyst at City Index, said that many investors moved to consolidate recent gains yesterday.

He explained, ‘Markets in Europe and across the pond experienced some turbulent trading after US pending home sales fell by 7.6 per cent for January.

'Markets initially sold off on the news before rallying into the European close with many investors and market participants deciding to stay on the sidelines before a potentially volatile trading session tomorrow.

‘Pending Home Sales, a measure of the number of buyers agreeing to purchase a previously occupied home in the US was expected to show a rise of 1 per cent.

'However extreme cold weather and snowstorms had American citizens staying indoors instead of going out looking for new homes.’

Barclays Stockbrokers
Top ten trades
Thursday 4 March 2010

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Buy
1. Aviva, 7.23 per cent
2. Lloyds Banking Group, 4.6 per cent
3. Barclays, 4.2 per cent
4. Prudential, 3.8 per cent
5. Royal Bank of Scotland, 3.4 per cent
6. Carillion, 2.5 per cent
7. Amec, 1.8 per cent
8. Desire Petroleum, 1.4 per cent
9. Taylor Wimpey, 1.2 per cent
10. Pace, 1.2 per cent

Sell
1. Barclays, 10.0 per cent
2. Lloyds Banking Group, 7.6 per cent
3. RBS, 7.6 per cent
4. Xstrata, 2.5 per cent
5. Prudential, 1.8 per cent
6. BP, 1.7 per cent
7. Balfour Beatty, 1.3 per cent
8. Standard Chartered Bank, 1.2 per cent
9. Kazakmys, 1.2 per cent
10. Rio Tinto, 1.1 per cent