Lloyds Banking Group shares have continued to dominate trading activity at TD Waterhouse this week, as shares in Prudential became popular with investors.

Whilst retaining its place as the top buy of the week, Lloyds Banking Group also became the top sell as shares in Barclays dropped two places to third.

The highest climber of the week saw Prudential enter the top ten buys in fourth place as investors pounced on its share price falling by more than 18 per cent following its bid to buy AIG’s Asian business AIA.

Commenting, Angus Rigby, chief executive officer at TD Waterhouse said: “Customers swooped in to snap up shares as they fell by 110.30p over the past week as speculation surrounding the deal grew. However, the share price picked up again on Monday as the firm confirmed it had agreed a £23.6 billion ($35.5 billion) deal to acquire AIA, which will be funded with a $20 billion rights issue.”

Overall, the banking sector maintained its grip on the top ten buys and sells accounting for 64 per cent of the overall trades, with Lloyds, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays occupying the top three sells, while four out of five top buys were banking shares.

Meanwhile, the share dealing house has revealed that sells have climbed above buys for the first time this year with the difference standing at six per cent.

Elsewhere, house-builder Taylor Wimpey entered the top ten buys. Mr Rigby added: “The firm rose to sixth place in the top ten buys as its share price dwindled towards the end of last week. Earlier this week the Bank of England released new data showing that the number of mortgage approvals had dropped by 17% during January, matching a fall in activity in the housing market.”

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