Paul Marsh, of the London Business School, says studies suggest that, in the American market, the announcement of a buy-back boosts the share price by around 2%, compared with around half that in Britain.

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In early September, Barrick unveiled a plan to close out fixed hedges and begin to buy back a portion of its floating-price hedges.

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So, on November 27th, Mr David-Weill said that Eurafrance would begin a buy-back of its shares and would look for other ways to increase their price towards their asset value or better.

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The change has taken Denmark nearly two decades to implement, but the most critical step was the introduction of smart- or net-metering, which required utilities to buy back electricity from consumers at 85% of the price.

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Whereas, at the height of the bull market, many investors bought on the back of a buy recommendation in the hope of quick rise in the price - only to be left disappointed when the quick buck didn't materialise.

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Companies buy back stock for a variety of reasons from earnings-per-share enhancement to lack of share price growth.

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Bear in mind that if you buy a five-year Treasury at par you are guaranteed to get your principal back in 2007, no matter what the price fluctuation might be in the meantime.

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