TD Waterhouse share dealing has reported a 178 per cent increase in sells of bank shares, as investors move to capitalise on the FTSE 100 rally.

Sells of shares doubled this week, said Angus Rigby, chief executive officer at TD Waterhouse, which helped to push overall trading volumes up by more than half, while the “FTSE continued to rally from the lows of early June.”

The majority of sells in share dealing for the week ending Tuesday 13 July were for banks and energy companies, he said:

“In a week where UK banks were lifted by strong US corporate results and an upgrade of the European banking sector by Credit Suisse analysts, buy trades in banks fell by a third, while sells increased by 178%. Lloyds (LLOY) overtook BP as the most-sold stock by our customers after it agreed a deal to sell its private equity investments.

“After doubling last week, sells in Barclays (BARC) more than trebled this week, helping the bank retain third place on our top ten sells list. Meanwhile, HSBC (HSBA) entered the buys list in ninth place as it was reported the bank was in talks about selling its rolling stock leasing business.”

GlaxoSmithKline also entered the top 10 buys at TD Waterhouse share dealing, moving into third place, as the market waits to hear the outcome of a key hearing by US federal regulators on its diabetes drug Avandia.

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