RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO
29th November 2012
Morning Report
The FTSE 100 is up 0.9%, holding on to gains. The index is trading at a near one-month high,
largely on hopes that US lawmakers can come to an agreement on the US budget. But There is
no reaction to data that show that bank lending to households shrank in October, according
to Bank of England data. On the FTSE, miners lead the upside Invensys is the biggest mid-cap
gainer, up 12% following the sale of its rail unit.
Mining group BHP Billiton was in demand after its Chief Executive Officer Marius Kloppers
gave a cautiously optimistic outlook at the company's annual general meeting. He highlighted
the company's diversified portfolio, which he stressed means it is "poised to capture the
opportunities presented by markets in all stages of the demand cycle".
Mining peers Vedanta, ENRC, Kazakhmys, Anglo American and Rio Tinto were also making gains.
Yesterday's comments from Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming were also providing a lift.
He said that China will definitely hit its growth target of at least 7.5% this year.
DIY group Kingfisher was lower after seeing like-for-like sales fall 2.8% in the third quarter.
In the UK, Kingfisher's biggest market, total sales declined by 0.7% to £1.05bn, and were
down 3.8% in like-for-like terms.
Utilities firm Pennon, which owns South West Water and waste business Viridor, rose after
delivering a half-year pre-tax profit in line with expectations, up 3.4% to £111.1m.
Real estate investment trust British Land edged higher after saying that it has bought the
2.3-acre Canal Corridor North site in Lancaster and is in talks to acquire the adjoining
land to build a canal side, mixed-use scheme across a 10-acre site.
Pay-TV and broadband group BSkyB was lower after Jefferies downgraded its rating on the stock
from 'hold' to 'underperform' and cut its target price from 700p to 650p, saying: "we no
longer believe Sky's valuation reflects the challenges it faces as the UK's incumbent pay
TV platform as the market matures."
Technology group Invensys extended yesterday's surge after announcing last night that it is
to sell its rail division to Siemens for £1.742bn, pay down its pension deficit and return £625m
in cash to shareholders. Shares rocketed 27% yesterday and gained a further 12.6% this morning.
THE FTSE 100 @ 10:00 Up 52 @ 5855
THE DOW JONES closed Up 106 @ 12985
THE NASDAQ closed Up 23 @ 2991
Exchange Rates
GBP – USD @ 10:00 1.6022
GBP - EURO @ 10:00 1.2340
Gold $/ OZ $1724
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