HBOS keeps FTSE in hunt as Dow stutters

As of 3.15pm, HBOS stock had risen 8.86% to 108.1p helping drag the blue-chip index into the black. It had climbed 0.1% to 4,381.56. Miner Kazakhmys tops the winner’s table after advancing nearly 17% to 333p while Old Mutual is also having a positive afternoon. Barclays was down more than 5% to less than 170p as several brokers downgraded the bank, while the Royal Bank of Scotland was also down as it revealed further asset write-downs. In New York, an early 8% gain for AIG failed to help the Dow Jones as the index slipped down 0.1% to 9,314.41. Walt Disney, Bank of America and JPMor...