RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO 9th November 2012

Morning Report

The FTSE 100 is down 0.1% at 5768.33 maintaining small losses. Miners are amongst the biggest fallers following mixed data out of China and concerns about the US fiscal cliff. But there are some strong outperformers too Friday. Admiral Group is up following an upgrade by BofA Merrill Lynch and Rolls-Royce is up following a well received trading update. There's nothing on the UK economic calendar of note so attention will turn to the US.

IAG rose after revealing details of a "transformation plan" to get its loss-making Spanish airline Iberia back on track, which includes the laying off of 4,500 employees. To accompany its third-quarter results which showed a sharp decline in its bottom line, the company said that a restructuring is needed to "save" Iberia and return it to profitability.

Mining and financial stocks were among the worst performers this morning, with ENRC, EVRAZ, Aviva and Old Mutual providing a drag.

Engine and power systems giant Rolls-Royce edged higher after maintaining its outlook for the full year despite lowering its assumptions for underlying growth in the Marine division.

Real estate investment trust Hammerson was flat after saying it remains "cautious" about the economic outlook in the UK and Europe, even as it completed its strategic move from office landlord to retail landlord.

Shares in water group Pennon were on the up after HSBC upgraded its rating on the stock to 'overweight'. In contrast, accountancy software firm Sage was hit by a downgrade from Investec to 'sell'.

Recruitment company Michael Page International was performing well this morning after UBS raised its recommendation for the shares to 'buy' and hiked its target price from 400p to 450p.

Pest control firm Rentokil declined after saying that "challenging conditions across Europe" limited revenue growth in the third quarter. Sales were up just 1.6% in the three months to the end of September.

Inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon tanked after reporting a big drop in revenue in the four months to October on subdued market activity.

THE FTSE 100              @ 10:00        Down        9      @      5766 THE DOW JONES            closed          Down       121     @     12811                                 THE NASDAQ               closed          Down       41      @       2895 













                                                          

Exchange Rates GBP – USD        @       10:00            1.5977 GBP - EURO      @       10:00            1.2533

Gold $/ OZ                        $1736