RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO 27th November 2012

      Morning Report

The FTSE 100 is up 0.5%, maintaining gains following the second release of 3Q UK GDP. The data was left unrevised at 1%. This comes as a surprise to many who expected a downward revision. On the FTSE, Royal Bank of Scotland is still the biggest gainer, up 4%, following an upgrade. Many strategists have also highlighted that the appointment of Mark Carney as new BOE governor could be good for banks.

Banking peers Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Barclays were registering decent gains early on, along with resource groups EVRAZ, ENRC and Polymetal as investors built positions in 'riskier' assets. RBS was benefitting this morning from an rating upgrade by UBS to 'buy'. Meanwhile, Barclays Capital raised its target price for both RBS and Lloyds, helping provide a lift to shares.

In contrast, Aberdeen Asset Management was among the worst performers of the morning after Citigroup downgraded its recommendation for the stock to 'neutral'.

Mining giant Xstrata gained after saying that its Antapcaccay mine in southern Peru started producing commercial grade copper at the start of the month and has already delivered its first shipment to customers.

Utilities group Severn Trent fell after underlying profit before interest and tax fell 2.6% in the first half, reflecting planned increased investment in networks and customers service in its water division.

Vodafone, the telecoms giant involved in the development of the M-Pesa service in Africa, rose after announcing that from Tuesday 27th the service's Kenyan customers will have access to interest bearing saving accounts and have the ability to take out small loans through a new service, called M-Shwari.

Mitchells & Butlers, the UK's largest operator of managed restaurants and pub, was unwanted after noting it had made a slow start to the new financial year, partly because of unseasonably warm weather in the same period in 2011.

British defence-equipment maker Chemring, which scaled back full-year profit guidance earlier this month, surged this morning after saying that expectations for the full year remain unchanged since its last update.

Bank note printer De La Rue gained after reporting that both revenues and profits were up in the first half. However, the compay noted a more challenging paper market as competitors upped production.











THE FTSE 100              @ 10:00       Up         30       @      5816 THE DOW JONES            closed         Down       42       @     12967                                THE NASDAQ               closed         Up         9        @      2976                                                       

Exchange Rates GBP – USD        @       10:00             1.6033 GBP - EURO      @       10:00             1.2370

Gold $/ OZ                               $1748