RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

23nd  November 2012

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 ends 0.5% higher at 5819.14, closing above the 5800 level and at a 2-week high. For the first time since the week commencing Aug 3, the index posts five consecutive gains. The FTSE got  a lift in the afternoon after a strong start to trading on Wall Street.

Retailers put on a good show, as the Black Friday sales get under way in the US and in the light of solid weekly figures from John Lewis. Next week is the second release of UK 3Q GDP, while events in Europe will as ever be closely watched with the Eurogroup meeting on Greece taking place Monday.

Mining giant ENRC rose after announcing that it is putting more on its Chairman's plate in order to let its Chief Executive Officer focus more on operations, "notably cost and operational efficiencies across the group's assets." 

Sector peer Xstrata was also higher after saying that its nickel division has completed the construction of the first production line at the Koniambo project has been completed, with first metal anticipated in January. It was announced yesterday afternoon that Xstrata's merger with commodities giant Glencore has won the blessing of the European Commission. 

Utilities giant Severn Trent was lower after voicing concerns with Ofwat's proposed water price controls in response to a statement by the regulator this week which welcomed "constructive" criticism.

HICL Infrastructure Company Limited has said it is looking to raise up to 61.5 million pounds, net of costs, through the issue of ordinary shares in the capital of the company to qualifying investors.

India-based Tata Steel has announced plans to cut about 900 jobs at its U.K. operations as part of a wider restructuring.

THE FTSE 100      Closed    Down     28    @   5819 THE DOW JONES     @ 17:00   Up       100   @   12937 THE NASDAQ        @ 17:00   Up       32    @   2959 Exchange Rates GBP – USD         @ 17:00   1.6028 GBP - EURO        @ 17:00   1.2368

Gold USD/Oz       $1,748