RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

19th  November 2012

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 ends 2.4% higher at 5737.66, following a very optimistic session. The index added 132.07 points, the biggest points gain of the year so far. As for individual stocks, Barclays rises 5.3% after Goldman Sachs upgrades it to buy. Ocado shares surge nearly 24% after the company comes to a loan extension agreement with its lenders.

Oil giant BP rose on reports that it is considering a share repurchase programme of around $4bn after it banks the proceeds of the TNK-BP sale to Rosneft. Resource peers ENRC, Randgold, EVRAZ and Fresnillo were also in demand as risk appetite increased.

Banking giant HSBC rose after confirming press speculation that it is mulling a sale of its minority stake in Chinese insurance giant Ping An Insurance. HSBC holds a 15.57% stake in Ping An, China's second-largest insurance firm by assets, which is worth an estimated $9.5bn. The stock was also given a lift by Investec which lifted its rating on the shares to 'buy' this morning, saying that the downgrade cycle could finally be over.

G4S fell into the bottom spot after Credit Suisse cut its target price from 295p to 275p and downgraded the stock from outperform to neutral. 

Similarly, Serco shares dropped after Credit Suisse said of it,"we downgrade the stock to Neutral (from Outperform) given lower near term visibility, a temporary moderation in Serco's organic recovery and a 28% re-rating year-to-date in its estimated fiscal year 2012 price-to-earnings multiple [...] Serco trades at an estimated fiscal year 2013 price-to-earnings multiple of 12.5, a 32% premium to the market that is now close to its historic median (38%)."

Quality and safety testing group Intertek fell after admitting that revenue growth slowed down from 29.9% in the first half to 20.1% during the 10 months to the end of October.















THE FTSE 100        closed     Up     132    @      5737 THE DOW JONES       @ 17:00    Up     162    @     12751                                                     THE NASDAQ          @ 17:00    Up      44    @      2897

Exchange Rates GBP – USD           @       17:00     1.5910 GBP - EURO          @       17:00     1.2423

Gold USD/Oz         $1,733