Buying BP ord via Halifax (newbie)

lifemagic

I'm new to this. I'm going to put a few grand away for long-term, various sectors, and opened a share account at Halifax. I decided the first purchase, about 500 quid of BP.

So I typed this into the buy page, and chose '500.00' in the value.

A dialogue came up saying something about having to go to a non-standard market or something and I had to give consent. That freaked me out a little. Then quoted me:

Buy 111 BP. - BP ORD USD0.25 at a price of 436.288p

So now I'm confused. Would this be BP on the LSE, as I don't want to have to send a W8. Why is a usd amount quoted? What is the non-standard market warning thingy? Sorry to be so clueless, thanks for any into/advice (other than sarky comments to stick to savings accounts!).

sabretoothtigger

BP is a large USA company with global operations. The shares trade in New York as well as London, you can buy either.

Try BP. or BP.L for London

barak

lifemagic wrote: »

Buy 111 BP. - BP ORD USD0.25 at a price of 436.288p

So now I'm confused. Would this be BP on the LSE, as I don't want to have to send a W8. Why is a usd amount quoted? What is the non-standard market warning thingy?

The quote was for the shares you wanted. BP plc shares on the LSE have a nominal value of USD 0.25 which has nothing to do with the price or currency in which you pay. The non-standard market message was probably because you were asking to deal in a rather small odd number of shares which I suppose the main dealers wouldn't be interested in.

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/prices-and-markets/stocks/summary/company-summary.html?fourWayKey=GB0007980591GBGBXSET0

Vodafone Group plc also has shares with a nominal US Dollar value.

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/prices-and-markets/stocks/summary/company-summary.html?fourWayKey=GB00B16GWD56GBGBXSET0

Linton

I dont think £500 worth of shares should require a "non-standard market". Cant think of what would - perhaps you could try again and tell us exactly what the message said. You were trading during the normal LSE opening time 8am-4:30pm, mon-fri ?

£500 is a bit small as the standard dealing service has a minimum charge, perhaps you could use the "regular investing" option to save a bit of money.

westy22

A dialogue came up saying something about having to go to a non-standard market or something and I had to give consent.

I think I had a similar thing the very first time I traded on iii (which was about 3 years ago so my memory may be playing tricks!) - I accepted then and the message has never come up again. I think it is a message that is a one-off the first time you trade to allow the broker to search the whole of the market to find you the best price.

sabretoothtigger

w8 is a USA tax return. Try buying before 2:30 and you should only see a live deal for London really, halifax has a separate tab for home and away

lifemagic

OK thank you. That's a lot clearer. I think the market was open when I tried this. I'll do it again tomorrow and post the exact message if it comes up again.

lifemagic

It's OK, I just got them. No message this time and quoted price same as I expected.

Thanks.

sabretoothtigger

I sold some BP at close today, just not as keen on them as I was due to Argentina and various possible negatives. I'll buy back on any dips

Looking purely at the chart, Monday 23rd low should form a good base till they hit 460 and selloff, rinse repeat etc

mgdavid

don't know anything about Halifax share service or their costs - but you might want to take a look at The Share Centre online dealing service, very friendly and easy to use for small investors. Coincidentally I have both BP and Vodaphone and had not been aware of any nominal dollar values.