RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO        5th  November 2012

       Evening Report

The FTSE 100 ends down 0.5% at 5839.06, with investors nervous ahead of the US presidential election and the power handover in China. In terms of sectors, miners were the biggest drag amid falling base metals prices.

Mining stocks provided a drag as investors digested economic figures from China. The HSBC China services PMI fell from a four-month high of 54.3 to 53.5 in October, contrasting with the official services PMI from the National Bureau of Statistics this weekend, which rose from 53.7 to 55.5. Vedanta, ENRC, Kazakhmys, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta were fallers throughout Monday's session.

Banking giant HSBC fell after it reported pre-tax profit fell from $3.7bn to $3.5bn in the third quarter. As well as further provisions for PPI redress, third-quarter results included an additional provision of $800m in relation to the ongoing anti-money laundering investigation in the US. Lloyds and RBS were also unwanted.

Meanwhile, leading the upside was engineering group Weir after saying that it is set to deliver double-digit profit growth this year despite weak order inputs and a slowdown in growth in the third quarter.

GSK shares were given a boost after AlphaValue upgraded the stock from reduce to add. British American Tobacco shares were boosted by the news that the company, along with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, are today requesting that Ontario's higherst court throw out the $40bn lawsuit that was launched against the two company by a provincial government, claiming the lawsuit has a false theory as its basis.

Supermarket giant Morrisons made gains ahead of its third-quarter trading update on Thursday. Speaking last week, Seymour Pierce analyst Kate Calvert said: "Recent market share data points to continued deterioration in sales trends and so a weak number is expected by the market."

THE FTSE 100            closed            Down           29         @      5839 THE DOW JONES           @ 17:00           Down           11         @      13081                                                      THE NASDAQ              @ 17:00           Up             7          @       2989

Exchange Rates GBP – USD                  @       17:00           1.5975 GBP - EURO                @       17:00           1.2486

Gold USD/Oz                                   $1,682