After plunging down and showing some quick recovery, I have no doubt that the BP stock prices have reached a point where the price is matching the actual value of the company. A few weeks back, BP was able to reach the 40s mark on the New York Stock Exchange but now it seems that the share price value has dropped off a bit.

The reason for that is simple, the disaster has grabbed all the attention of the company towards the crisis and even though BP has been able to block the leakage, it is still spending a considerable amount of resources and money in the cleanup efforts around the affected region. But that is just not it, the disaster will also affect the company getting contracts and oil drilling opportunities around the world thereby blocking potential growth of the company as a whole.

At the moment, many companies and government would not like to associate themselves with BP. Its not just the disaster that has affected the public opinion about the company but also because of the company being London based.

News of BP Plc (NYSE:BP) being successfully able to block the oil leak at the Gulf of Mexico has got the stocks of the company rising quick. Many people are recommending BP stocks to be a good investment to add into their portfolio. One of the much expected things by many is that the shares of the company will rise as they had been undervalued due to the crisis and the company’s image among the public completely destroyed by the disaster.

The oil leakage has been blocked permanently and the company has also announced that it is likely to resume its operations at the site in the future.

BP Plc has also started removing blooms from some of the affected sites which will help the company gain back its image among the public that the company is taking full responsibility and not running away from the issues.

The disaster has also provided the company with expertise that no other company in the field has – tackling issues that caused the disaster and performing operations in case disaster strikes.

With the Oil Leak now being plugged permanently (hopefully), the share prices of BP Plc are going up. Share Prices have finally managed to cross the 40 USD mark after a long time and it is expected that the share prices will be able to maintain growth over a long term.

The oil leak at the Gulf of Mexico site was plugged by pumping mud and cement into the well, hence permanently sealing the gap. It is quite possible that more mud and cement would be required however at the moment that has been ruled out.

The company had announced that it will be able to solve the issue during the month of August and has been successfully been able to achieve the timelines. The news of the oil leak being permanently blocked brings a sense of relief to the stakeholders who had seen the value of their stocks crashing in a short period of time.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc was handed the fines by the Financial Services Authority as the company failed to adequately screen customers and payments to prevent its banks from being used for money laundering or financing terrorists.

The Financial Services Authority placed the fine on the firm in order to use its power against financial crimes. It has come out that the banking service might have provided financial services to people who are on the HM Treasury sanctions list which is against the laws. The situation could have been prevented if the individuals were adequately screened as required by the regulations.

The fines were reduced for the Royal Bank of Scotland plc admitted that it failed to take adequate measures in order to prevent a security issue. It is quite possible that many transactions took place through RBS in order to finance terrorist activities in the United Kingdom.

Share prices of Royal Bank of Scotland plc (NYSE:RBS) went up significantly as news regarding HSBC which is a major banking firm in the United Kingdom reported that its profit had doubled for the first half of the year 2010 compared to the previous year.

Share prices of the Royal Bank of Scotland have been on a rise as financial companies including UBS and Deutsche Bank reported profits and beat analysts expectations.

The rise in the stock prices of Royal Bank of Scotland is also being attributed to the company selling its branches in the United Kingdom to Banco Santander. It is expected that the deal between the two firms will be inked during this week.

HSBC which is one of the largest financial banks in the United Kingdom reported pre tax profits of £7bn for the first half of 2010. The company managed to double its profits compared to its performance in 2009.

HSBC’s Chief Executive Officer Micheal Geoghegan also announced that the banking major should be allowed to operate in its current form and not to be broken up into investment banking and retail banking lines.

HSBC was able to report a growth in its profits due to a decline in the impairment charges for loans which are not repaid on time, falling to their lowest level since the financial crisis. HSBC has managed to survive the financial crisis without taking any direct assistance from the Government.

The company reported a decline in its profits in Middle East and Europe while growth in Profits in Asia. The company reported losses for its business in the United States.

Share prices of HSBC Holdings plc (LON:HSBA) closed on August 2 with a gain of more than 5% and are expected to reach higher levels as the company continues to report growth in its business.

As Santander CEO announced that the financial firm was expecting to complete its sale of RBS Branches in the United Kingdom, the share prices of Royal Bank of Scotland plc rose up. The Bank was reportedly the only bank that had bid for the RBS Branches and the deal is reportedly worth around £1.8 Billion. Previously the deal was expected to be around £2 Billion.

Recently RBS has been in a bid to change its financial portfolio after the European Union ordered that the bank needs to cut its market share so that it is not at a competitive advantage to other banks.

Apart from the takeover bid in the United Kingdom, the banking major is also selling its assets in Pakistan to Faysal Bank. The deal has recently got the approval of Pakistan’s Central Bank.

The deal might not fit well with the employees of Royal Bank of Scotland since everytime takeovers happen, many employees of companies are fired. It is yet to be seen on what terms the sale takes place.

Share prices of MMTC rose significantly as company reported heavy profits for its quarters. Unfortunately, the Government of India owns almost all of the equity in the firm so that means there were only a few people who benefited from the record profits that the company has reported. How about giving those employees an increase in their wages? I am expecting that all these profits will get gulped down by the corrupt officers.

Interestingly the news also highlighted that the President of India holds a considerable percentage of the shares in the company which are not traded in the market. I am quite concerned how such a “reputable” person actually got shares in the company where the person is not even directly involved or am I missing something?

The company has shown a growth of 34% in its profits and is now reportedly going under disinvestment after getting an approval from EGM for splitting its share. Despite record profits being reported by the company, BSE Sensex remained weak.

Share prices of the company Beyond Petroleum (also known as BP Plc) have remained volatile after the company got itself involved in one of the worst environment disasters. It is now being speculated that the company will need to apply for tax credits in order to overcome the total costs of the disaster. The company has already reported losses in billions for the quarter which had not at all been expected by analysts.

The tax credits are quite important for the company since it will help the company to mitigate over ten billion american dollars in costs related to the oil spill disaster. The company can apply for tax credits upto 35 percent of its losses according to the US corporate tax law.

It is still not sure whether the US Government will approve the tax credits for the company however the tax credits in no doubt are very important for BP Plc. In case Beyond Petroleum is denied the tax credits then it will be a lot harder for the company to make a quick recovery.

The company share price (LON:BP) dropped a bit as it is still not sure where the company is heading at the moment. Stocks of the company (NYSE:BP) at the New York Stock Exchange also dropped.

Despite strong performance by the Banking major, stocks of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (NYSE:RBS) weakened a bit. The decline in the stock prices of the Royal Bank of Scotland might have to do something with news regarding the recent takeover bid by Pakistan’s Faysal Bank (KAR:FABL) to takeover Royal Bank of Scotland’s Pakistan Operations.

Pakistan’s Faysal Bank won the bid to takeover the Royal Bank of Scotland’s local operations in Pakistan and allows Pakistan’s lending company Faysal to expand its retail presence in the area. The purchase of RBS assets in Pakistan means that Faysal will be doubling up its branch base and will be able to grow its business in Pakistan.

The recent takeover bid for RBS local branches in Pakistan has recently got its approval from the Pakistan Central Bank. RBS is in a move to ramp up its business by selling up non-core operations and has recently hired bankers to boost its Asian Equities business.