LONDON (ShareCast) - Shares of insurance giant Aviva were advancing on Wednesday morning with the stock shrugging off a downgrade by Jefferies from 'buy' to 'hold' and a target price cut from 386p to 281p.

"Reversing the current valuation discount requires a significant increase in economic capital given further deterioration in Q2," the broker said.

Jefferies has previously argued that disposals at Aviva could be the catalyst to reverse the recent underperformance but says that the current environment makes this very difficult.

Nomura has maintained its 'buy' rating and 1,800p target price for emerging markets-focused bank Standard Chartered after the group reiterated its full-year guidance in a trading update.

"The IMS does not justify upgrades and these have been necessary to generate outperformance from the shares in the past. Overall STAN results highlight a drag from the deteriorating growth outlook and adverse currency movements, much as we were expecting," Nomura said.

There were few surprises in the statement and the broker said that it continues to be positive towards the stock as a result of its "superior" fundaments compared with developed market banks.

Investec has placed its 'buy' rating and 140p target price for self-storage firm Safestore under review on the back of FX and VAT headwinds.

"The headwinds of FX and government proposals to introduce VAT on self-storage from October this year, coupled with on-going strategic investment leads us to put forecasts, target price and recommendation under review.

"Although the impact of VAT on Safestore will be reduced by the French business (c.25%) and UK business customers (c.35%), the balance of private customers subject to VAT will prompt a cut in rates, in our view, as Safestore looks to retain occupancy."

BC

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:

• DIGG
• FACEBOOK
• STUMBLEUPON
• MIXX
• YAHOO BUZZ
• DELICIOUS
• REDDIT
• NEWSVINE