RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO 31st October 2012

 Morning Report

The FTSE 100 is flat at 5850.27, paring gains as BG Group knocks sentiment. BG Group loses 13% after releasing its 3Q results early, with analysts pointing to disappointing production guidance. Barclays, is also off after its 3Q numbers fall short.

Severn Trent and United Utilities are also down after rating downgrades. UK banking giant Barclays dropped early on despite meeting forecasts in the third quarter with strong growth seen in adjusted pre-tax profits, from £1.34bn to £1.73bn. The firm however revealed new "legal and regulatory matters" which include two new probes in the US.

High Street fashion and homewares retailer Next also fell after admitting that its sales performance was "volatile" in the third quarter with stronger sales in late September and early October offsetting an unusually quiet start to August.

Life assurance company Standard Life gained after saying inflows across its long-term savings businesses plus a strong performance at Standard Life Investments helped to increase both group assets under administration and Standard Life Investments third party assets to record levels.

Higher production at its Esperanza mine helped Chilean copper miner Antofagasta increase output in the third quarter, seeing shares rise early on.

Mobile phone networks giant Vodafone was in demand after announcing that its NZ$840m (£429m) acquisition of TelstraClear, the New Zealand business of Australian telecoms group Telstra, has now gone through.

Wealth management group St James's Place rose strongly after reporting a 6% increase n funds under management (FuM) in the third quarter as it reported good growth in new business despite the continuing macroeconomic uncertainty.

Energy company Essar was higher after gaining permission to chop down trees close to its Mahan coal block.

Soft drinks giants AG Barr and Britvic were out of favour this morning after extending the deadline for the conclusion of merger talks.











THE FTSE 100           @ 10:00       Flat      @      5850 THE DOW JONES          closed                                                                    THE NASDAQ             closed                                                                                                     

Exchange Rate GBP – USD       @      10:00             1.6114 GBP - EURO      @      10:00             1.2394

Gold $/ OZ                 $1718