The chances of a new record high for the FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) by Christmas are diminishing daily, with the index having shed a further 47 points to 6,390 by shortly after noon. And even though there was a minor rally before yesterday’s close, we’re still 64 points down on the week so far and a massive 486 points down on May’s 13-year record of 6,876.
The recent weakness comes despite some impressive individual performances. Here are three shares setting new records:
Aviva
The rapid climb of Aviva (LSE: AV) shares since the Spring has not yet run out of steam, with the price hitting a new 52-week high today of 427.2p. It was back down a little to 424p by midday, but that’s still a gain of more than 40% over April’s lows.
The share price took a hit when Aviva slashed its dividend payment last year, but the rebased dividend looks set to provide a yield of around 4% this year and next, which is still ahead of the FTSE 100 average of nearer 3%. And forecasts put the shares on a below-average P/E of under 10, despite the share price rise.
Royal Bank of Scotland
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (LSE: RBS) (NYSE: RBS.US) shares finished on a closing high of 373.6p yesterday — dropping a penny from that at midday today. The price is up more than 40% over the past 12 months, having been given a recent boost from the government’s partial sale of Lloyds Banking Group.
Surely a return to full private ownership can’t be too far away now, especially as the bank is forecast to turn in a full-year profit for December 2013 after reporting a first-half pre-tax profit in August.
Ocado
If you want to see a real high-flyer, you need look no further than Ocado Group (LSE: OCDO), whose shares are just a shade short of a 600% increase over the past 12 months. Today we saw them reach a new 52-week high of 469.1p, with the shares trading at 463p at midday.
Expectations are clearly high following the tie-up with Morrisons and with the opening of Ocado’s second distribution facility. But we need to bear in mind that there’s still no full-year profit expected before 2014, and even then it’s not going to be very much.