19
Sep
Shares surge on US bail-out plan
Wall Street shares have rebounded sharply after a proposed US
government plan to buy billions of dollars of US banks' bad
mortgage-related loans. The key Dow Jones index jumped 2% in the
opening minutes of trade, while UK's FTSE 100 index was up more
than 9%. In Paris, the Cac was 7.8% higher. Financial stocks have
gained the most. In London, the Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS
rose as much as 50%. Moves to restrict short-selling in the US and
UK also helped to boost shares. Short-selling occurs when a trader
borrows shares from another to sell them with the hope of buying
them back at a lower price, thereby profiting from the difference.
It has been blamed for the recent sharp falls in some banking
shares. The Dow Jones jumped 230.5 points to 11,250.2 in the
opening minutes of trading and continued to plough ahead,
recovering from steep falls earlier in the week. REPORT FROM BBC
NEWS www.bbc.co.uk FRIDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER 2008