BT’s share price sank today, despite sparking a rush of buying activity this morning (11 February) when it announced Q3 pre tax profits up to £209 million from £81 million.

Earnings per share increased from 0.8p to 2.2p, despite third quarter revenues (to 31 December 2009) actually falling by 4 per cent to £5.2 billion.

But it was news of the company’s £9 billion deficit in the pension scheme that sent the stock lower, trading down by over 8 per cent at 120.6p (1530hrs).

Despite this, the telecoms giant entered the top three buys at TD Waterhouse, which has been dominated by the banks in recent weeks, accounting for a quarter of all purchase activity.

Ian Livingston, chief executive of BT said that the results illustrated the work that the company had done to change the business.

He added, ‘There is still a lot more to be done but our commitment to improved customer service and cost transformation is starting to deliver results and freeing up resources to invest in our future.

‘In particular, we are one of Europe’s largest investors in super-fast fibre-based broadband and this will bring huge benefits to our customers and the UK.’

Increases in oil and mining share prices triggered a mass sell off of Rio Tinto, Xstrata and BHP Billiton, with Xstata claiming the top sales spot, accounting for 28 per cent of all trading activity.

Rio Tinto led basic resources shares higher this morning after reporting a second half profit as commodity prices increased on the back of ongoing economic uncertainty.

Rio accounted for 7.25 per cent of all sales. Lloyds Banking Group remained at the top of the purchase list, however, representing more than a quarter of all top ten buys, after the bank’s share price fell further amid government criticism for not lending sufficient amounts to small businesses.

TD Waterhouse
Top ten trades
Thursday 11 February 2010 (to 1200hrs)

Buy
1. Lloyds Banking Group, 25.25 per cent
2. BT Group, 25 per cent
3. Barclays, 13.75 per cent
4. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group, 9.75 per cent
5. Rockhopper Explora, 5.25 per cent
6. Optare, 5.25 per cent
7. Kopane Diamond Development, 4.25 per cent
8. Xstrata, 4 per cent
9. Aviva, 3.75 per cent
10. Desire Petroleum, 3.75 per cent

Sell
1. Xstrata, 28 per cent
2. Lloyds Banking Group, 12.5 per cent
3. Barclays, 11 per cent
4. Kazakhyms, 8.25 per cent
5. Rio Tinto, 7.25 per cent
6. RBS Group, 6.75 per cent
7. Rolls Royce, 6.75 per cent
8. BHP Billiton, 6.5 per cent
9. Kopane Diamond, 6.5 per cent
10. BT Group, 6.5 per cent