Standard Chartered

The past three years have been a tumultuous time for the financials sector, which has seen a phase of deleveraging, rights issues and balance sheet repair which continues to this day.

The Dow Jones shed almost 300 points in yesterday's session with sentiment knocked following Greek plans to hold a referendum on the European bailout plan agreed last week.

F&C Investments' UK equity head Peter Lees has been moving up the market-cap scale in his £210m UK Alpha fund, upping exposure to FTSE 100 names by 15% since the start of the year.

UK bank shares were being sold off this afternoon, sending the FTSE down 0.3% to 5,532.08 points, as investors fear Europe's debt crisis has not yet claimed its last sovereign victim.

Standard Chartered acheived a 98.5% take-up of its rights issue, raising £3.29bn for the Asian-focused banking group.

Standard Chartered has told clients to prepare for a fall in property prices of up to 30% in large Chinese cities as the delayed effects of monetary tightening begin to bite.

The amount raised by companies from equity capital markets during the first half of the year was the lowest in five years.

Jupiter manager believes low-rate environment will continue to be supportive for bonds as investors continue to search for yield in 2010

Top five funds in IMA Strategic Bond sector all return above 4% over one year against an average of 23.1%

The major UK banks are falling as the market absorbs the wider implications of Barack Obama's plans to keep US banks on a tighter leash.