Stockwatch

The week's winners
Allianz up 15.3%
Marsh up 13.6%

The week's losers
Hardy down 5.6%
Kiln down 5.3%

Montpelier Re hit the ground running after its shares started trading in New York last Thursday.

Its initial public offering of stock went on sale for $20 a share, but quickly injected life into the market and soared, buoyant on strong demand. The shares were selling at $24 by Tuesday afternoon when the initial public offering had been expected to close.

The sale will have netted close to $175m (£112.6m) to give a boost to the Bermuda-based operation in addition to the $1bn (£643m) of capital at its December start-up.

A rally on the London Stock Exchange on the back of a rise on Wall Street sent a clutch of insurers higher on Tuesday afternoon after a fairly lacklustre week.

Zurich Financial Services put on more than 15% in the course of the day, after increasing by just 5.8% over the previous week, to send its London listing to 6,900p.

AXA gained nearly 12% to ¤13.36 and Aviva was up by 11% to 486.13p.

Royal & SunAlliance forced its way back to the right side of the £1 barrier and was selling for 105.18p.

The time is nearing when Royal and SunAlliance (R&SA) will have to reveal the results of its capital requirements, due by the time it announces third quarter figures on 7 November.

Pressure is intensifying on the group to boost its strength, even as Moody's cast doubt on its ability to raise what it needs. The ratings agency downgraded R&SA by two notches to A3 from A1 for its insurance financial strength rating and one notch for its commercial paper.

What R&SA desperately needs is more positive trading on the stock exchange to help it through a rights issue, but, so far, this week's glimmer of hope is little more than that.