RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO 5th October 2012

     Evening Report

The FTSE 100 ends 0.7% higher at 5871.02, lifted by upbeat nonfarm payrolls data.  In London, Miners fared best. Tesco bucked the trend, off 0.9% following disappointing 1H numbers earlier in the week.

Blue-chip mining stocks were registering impressive gains following decent figures in the US jobs report, which has eased concerns about the global economy and worries about the demand for commodities. ENRC, Kazakhmys, Evraz, and Vedanta, were among the risers.

Luxury brand Burberry rose after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to 'overweight' this morning. Engineering group IMI was a high riser after Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Cazenove both reiterated their 'overweight' ratings on the shares.

Oilfield services firm Wood Group was also in demand after saying that it is still confident in hitting full-year profit targets, with conditions in energy markets remaining favourable. "We anticipate strong operating cash flow in the second half, and our strong balance sheet provides a robust platform for growth," the group's interim management statement said.

Meanwhile, shares were down at Tesco after Investec said the strategic problems at the supermarket giant are getting worse, recommending investors to sell their shares. Tesco disappointed with its interim results on Wednesday, missing trading profit forecasts by 3%, leading to further downgrades to forecasts, Investec said. The broker cut its own rnings per share (EPS) estimate by 7% for this year and the next due to poor trade and weak margins. 

Johnson Matthey continued to be a notable faller, with shares down 2.82%, equal to 68p, over the past week. The stock has performed well over the last year, up more than 45%, equivalent to 735p.

THE FTSE 100             Closed           Up        43     @      5871 THE DOW JONES            @   17:00        Up        55     @     13630 THE NASDAQ               @   17:00        Up         3     @      3153

Exchange Rates GBP – USD                @       17:00                1.6194 GBP - EURO               @       17:00                1.2399

Commodities

Gold USD/OZ            @        17:00               $1,782