Investors have started to return to the market, snapping up almost two-thirds more buys than sells, finds TD Waterhouse.

According to the stockbroker’s top ten trades, the banking sector maintained its stronghold in customer trading activities, with Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) accounting for 61 per cent.

However, there have been several newcomers this week and for the first time in months a non-bank stock has managed to muscle in.
 
Angus Rigby, chief executive officer at TD Waterhouse, says, ‘Vodafone was the second most popular stock bought by TD Waterhouse customers this week. The world’s biggest mobile phone company announced a 50 per cent fall in full-year profits and shares dipped on the back of the news. However, CEO Vittorio Colao’s cost saving plans for the company will have encouraged some investors to buy up the discounted shares.
 
‘Meanwhile, retail giant, Marks & Spencer (M&S) also suffered a drop in share price, again off the back of falling profits. With cash-strapped customers switching to cheaper retailers, the UK’s largest clothes retailer was forced to cut its final dividend by a third – the first cut for almost a decade.

Rigby adds, ‘In spite of this, it appears that some investors still hope there is potential to gain on the reduced stock price and, as a result, M&S jumps into seventh place in our top ten buys for the week.

The top ten also saw heavy trading in mining stocks, which account for 28 per cent of all top ten trades. Analysts have increased price targets of some mining stocks in anticipation of a China-led hike in commodity prices.

Rigby adds, ‘With a trained eye on the markets, our customers were quick to react, with mining stocks accounting for almost half (44 per cent) of this week’s non-bank sells and almost a quarter (21 per cent) of non-bank buys. Mining company Centamin Egypt makes its first appearance in the top ten sells. Customers may have been sitting on the shares and decided to cash in and take profits now that Centamin’s share price has doubled from the beginning of the year.
 
‘Finally, Cable and Wireless crept into ninth place in this week’s buys table after its share price fell on the back of disappointing results last week.

‘Prices fell further following news that two of the firm’s directors sold off substantial numbers of shares. However, it seems that the chairman of the group Richard Lapthone’s mindset matched that of our customers as he too increased his holdings in the company.’