RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO 5th November 2012

      Morning Report

The FTSE 100 is down 0.69%, following UK services PMI data for October. The index moderated to 50.6 from 52.2 in September, but remains above the 50-neutral level Meanwhile, HSBC is down 2.2% following its 3Q results. The bank is setting aside an additional $1.15 billion to cover potential money-laundering fines. Weir Group rises 3.8% following well-received results Mining stocks provided a drag on the Footsie early on as investors digested economic figures from China. Vedanta, Rio Tinto, Kazakhmys, ENRC, Fresnillo and Antofagasta were all registering losses in the opening hour.

Banking giant HSBC was under the weather after reported pre-tax profit fell from $3.7bn to $3.5 bn 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.

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.

Insurance group Prudential fell after entering into a long-term exclusive bancassurance partnership in Thailand with Thai firm Thanachart Bank.

Gold miner Centamin rose this morning after the Egyptian administrative court decided that its flagship Sukari mining licence is valid, reassured investors who took profits last week on rumours that the company could lose its primary source of revenue.

Data centre operator Telecity dropped despite saying that full-year earnings will be in line with market forecasts. Consensus estimates for the full year ending December 31st are for pre-tax profits of £81.66m on revenues of £284.35m.

Specialist insurance group Hiscox fell after saying it is too early to produce any meaningful estimate of claims from Sandy as it posted 6.4% increase in gross written premiums for the nine months to September 30th.

THE FTSE 100              @ 10:00         Down       40       @      5828 THE DOW JONES            closed           Down       139      @     13093                                 THE NASDAQ               closed           Down        37      @      2982                                                           

Exchange Rates GBP – USD        @       10:00                    1.5976 GBP - EURO      @       10:00                    1.2489

Gold $/ OZ                                $1677