One Month FTSE 100 Winners: International Consolidated Airlines, ITV, Standard Chartered

Given the way that the FTSE 100 finally managed to go “over the top” this month – reaching the dizzy heights of 7,000 plus before fading yet again, one might have thought there would be a spring in the step of many blue chips plays. This is, alas, not quite the case. It would appear that the UK index really managed to hit the heights due to an intermediate rebound in resources stocks, which have been holding it back rather painfully as compared to many other leading indices. What is interesting from the technical stocks sweep below is that none of the winners over March have actually been in this space. Instead, we have a rather mixed bag of sectors represented.

The horrific Germanwings tragedy of this week delivered at least a temporary wobble to some airline stocks, although in the case of International Consolidated (IAG) it can be seen that the overall uptrend, and much of the gains, are still very much intact. Nevertheless, there is the first hint at a bearish rising wedge formation, one which could be flagging the idea of at least a temporary pullback. However, such a scenario is contingent on at least an end of day close back below the 20 day moving average at 475p. Despite the latest weakness for the shares it would probably be wrong for even the most keen of bears to press the sell button unless or until there was a breakdown below this zone.

ITV (ITV) has been something of a personal favourite of mine on both a technical and a fundamental basis, even though I have never watched Downton Abbey. From a technical perspective it can be seen how a July unfilled gap to the upside here was the big momentum trigger. The only spanner in the works, and arguably quite a large one, was the way that the move higher after the charting buy signal took so long. But at least there was a fresh bite at the cherry for the bulls with the October bear trap rebound from just below the 200 day moving average. This subsequently delivered around 60p upside at best, which for most traders would be regarded as quite sufficient. The ideal scenario now would be that there is a retracement back towards the 50 day moving average at 236p. At least while there is no end of day close back below the 50 day line, the prospect of a retest of the best levels of the year towards 260p is a realistic one over the next 1-2 months.

While it may not quite be the joker in the pack of today’s trio, the situation as far as Standard Chartered (STAN) is concerned is that we are looking at a recovery situation on price action grounds, even if the fundamentals can be described as being somewhat opaque at the moment from a bullish perspective. The daily chart did not of course make pleasant viewing until late February when the neckline resistance zone post November towards 1,000p was finally broken. The position now is that we would expect a retest of the 200 day moving average, now at 1,070p, as new support. Under the best case scenario there would not be sustained price action below the 200 day line ahead of a journey towards the top of an October price channel top target at 1,300p. The timeframe on such a move is the next 1-2 months.