City File: Standard hold

SUDDENLY the notoriously accident-prone 'show us a banana skin and we'll slip on it' Standard Chartered is the banking flavour of the month. In anticipation of next week's interims, the shares zoomed over the week from 847p to 884p, over pounds 3 higher than the year's low, despite a yield of well under 3 per cent.

Philip Gibbs, an analyst at BZW, reckons the shares are worth pounds 10, and the core Far East franchise pounds 3bn - more than the total market capitalisation. So don't dream of selling, and buy if the shares fall on the interims or news of a rights issue.