Catlin treads with caution
Catlin succumbed to profit-taking this week, despite stockbroker Fox-Pitt, Kelton's (FPK) publication of a bullish six-page note on the insurer.
Repeating its outperform recommendation on the shares, FPK announced that it had recently met with Catlin management for an update on market trends following the 2005 catastrophe season.
FPK said: "In general, the group expects better underwriting conditions in 2006 versus 2005, but cautions not to expect an across-the-board rise in underwriting rates."
The shares are currently trading at around 470p - below September's high of 500p a share, but still well above the 327.75p level at the start of the year.
Hopes that Royal & SunAlliance could be taken private refused to die down, causing shares in the insurer to touch a new two-year high.
The company, which is thought to be a target for the likes of Fortis or AXA, was one of the main risers in the FTSE 100 as Insurance Times went to press, rising to 121p.
And conditional dealings got under way in Lancashire Holdings, the Bermuda-based insurer and reinsurer.
It placed 182 million shares at 284p each on Tuesday, and rose to as high as 329p in early trading.
' Yvette Essen is stock market reporter and insurance correspondent for The Daily Telegraph
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