any comments, thoughts, on this stock.

Relevant to the valuation of the NRK book??

UK Sept house prices rise; effects of credit crunch yet to be felt - Nationwide
AFX


LONDON (Thomson Financial) - UK house prices registered a decent gain in September, indicating that the turmoil in the credit market has yet to dent confidence significantly.

In its monthly survey of the housing market, the Nationwide said house prices rose by a monthly 0.7 pct in September, well up on the 0.3 pct increase predicted and the 0.6 pct gain in August. The annual rate came in at 9.0 pct, higher than the 8.6 pct gain expected but down on the 9.6 pct reading the previous month.

The average UK house now costs 184,723 stg.

Despite the relatively strong results for September, Nationwide pointed out that 'the trend growth of house prices is now the lowest since July 2006' and that credit conditions are definitely tightening for leveraged borrowers.

'Overall, house prices defied the gloomy predictions of some recent headlines, but their underlying growth is still on a decelerating trend,' said Fionnuala Earley, the building society's chief economist.

In the longer term the effects of the credit crunch will undoubtedly be to take some of the froth out of the market, she added.

Still, as the UK slowly moves towards lower interest rates, there may be life yet in the housing market, she argued.

'The likelihood is now that we will see a cut in base rates early in 2008, which is good news for mainstream borrowers and those coming off fixed rate deals,' Early added.

Cynic - Chris Flowers is a white knight for his own investors - buys heavily discounted .....

Telegraph.co.uk
Last Updated: 3:02am BST 27/09/2007By Katherine Griffiths, Philip Aldrick and Ben Harrington

.......... Alex Potter, an analyst at Collins Stewart, said: "They have confirmed they are in talks but it's very tentative. If you haven't even come to discussions on price, you are a long way from completion."

Discussions are likely to hinge on what funding guarantees the Government is willing to offer Mr Flowers and what discount Northern Rock will accept on its mortgage assets to make a deal worthwhile for private equity.

Analysts said Northern Rock cannot afford a discount of more than 2pc. Anything more would leave it insolvent. However, bankers insist the going discount rate for mortgage assets in the current market is closer to 5pc.

However, Bear Stearns analyst Robert Sage said: "We believe that the motives of other parties involved in Northern Rock are focused more on avoiding costs to taxpayers and protecting system stability.

"It may be that the desire to bring the debacle to an end could be at the expense of the ultimate risk-takers the equity holders."

Mr Flowers has experience of taking over troubled banks and returning them to profit. In 2000, with former Lazard banker Tim Collins, he bought the bankrupt Long Term Credit Bank now Shinsei Bank from the Japanese government for $1.2bn (600m).

In the space of little more than five years, investors made 12 times their original investment.

Mr Flowers is said to have been busy securing funds in recent weeks and one source said it was unlikely Lord Rothschild would be able to resist getting involved.

However, Mr Flowers is currently struggling with an ambitious $26bn offer for SLM, the parent of Sallie Mae, the large US student lender.

I've closed my short position because I'm going overseas for the weekend - so will probably drop now! Was a great trade over the last week ... Good luck both long and shorters.

yes me the same its sad making money out of other peoples misfortune but life a bitch

Sector in general is well on the up today. Even LLOY getting above 550p.

Shhh , otherwise they'll all want some.

Me and my big mouth, eh? ;-))

Looks rather strong past couple of days...is it a buy yet?

I think you will have to wait for a bit of new new's,

buy?..... no ..... sell? ..... dangerous but likely to be the right call

So it's a sell, cynic

imo, yes, but it's still quite brave and could go wrong

Time to buy was probably earlier in the week.

What is it now? Not a sell IMO with predators gathering. If a bid comes you're screwed. The time to short was 10 days ago!!

Glad you liked the joke. Not of my own invention unfortunately,forwarded by a mate in shipping, far too unimaginative for that. I have decided that trading NRK has become risky, particularly an overnight position, though that is when some of the major price moves seem to occur. It seems that it could get taken over imminently and that could mean little recompense whether long or short so going to concentrate on BB and AL, which seem nearly as volatile but less likely to get blown out of the sky by the guns of pe or hedge .

Al ... who says bid will be at a premium? ..... more likely that the shares will be worth a lot less

cynic - the way the price has moved the last few days tells me I'd rather be long than short. It's that simple. In fact, it's been a good idea to be long the sector this week really. A lot of money can be made.

Of course the long bet being better may change tomorrow! That's the beauty of trading. One day long, next day short. ;-)) Either way, NRK is really interesting at present.

Most days just seem bloody long at the moment :>)

Called it right all week Al, well done...drinks on you at xxxx then? Couldnt bring myself to use that word yet but the cards are in the shops already!!

Drinks? Would I? ;-))

Might take today off as it has been a good week. Would hate to give it all back today.

FT: Northern Rock debt to bank now 8bn

Strawbs.

Doesn't sound very attractive does it? What will it be in another 2 weeks?