Anyone who is assessing a share portfolio might be interested in the latest batch of buy-and-sell recommendations issued by stockbroker Merrill Lynch.
Looking at the entire European sector, the broker highlights a range of stocks across the various sectors which it believes are particularly good value for investors at the moment. Among the Irish stocks mentioned in this regard are CRH, AIB and Bank of Ireland.
The broker is particularly bullish about the European financial sector, highlighting Allied Zurich, Barclays, Halifax, Royal Bank of Scotland and Uni Credito Italiano as a good punt. The basis for its view is the strong half-year performance posted by almost every bank across Europe this year. The better-than-expected performance is expected to lead to a plethora of analyst upgrades for the main banks.
And when it comes to selling some stock Merrill Lynch is recommending investors to be particularly cautious about telecoms and media stocks, which it claims have most to lose in the event of a further rise in bond yields. Those making the sell list include Deutsche Telekom, KPN, France Telecom, TeleDanmark and Cable & Wireless as well as media stocks BSkyB and Reuters.
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