RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO 2nd October 2012

      Evening Report

The FTSE 100 closed 0.2% lower at 5809.45, following a fairly choppy session dominated by confusion about when Spain might ask for a euro zone bailout.  Banks fell, with Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Barclays down after a downgrade by UBS.

The U.K. economy remained weak in the third quarter of this year as business confidence fell and plans to invest dwindled compared with the second quarter, the British Chambers of Commerce said in its quarterly economic survey Tuesday.

Australia cut its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points to 3.25% for the first time since June, reacting to falls in key commodity prices and mounting evidence that a once- in-a-century mining investment boom is fading.

Civica Group, which provides software and IT outsourcing services to U.K. public sector bodies, could be heading for a sale or an initial public offering after private equity owner 3i Group hired N.M. Rothschild to conduct a strategic review of the company, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group will start basing pay awards on customer-satisfaction improvements as it seeks to rebuild trust with a bitter public, Chief Executive Stephen Hester said Monday.

Swiss commodities trader Glencore International announced that it has, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, entered into a 50-50 joint venture agreement with Kernel Holding S.A. to buy an interest in a deep sea grain export terminal in Taman port, Russia from the EFKO Group for an undisclosed sum.

The judge overseeing the high-profile patent dispute between Apple and Samsung in a California federal court lifts a sales ban on a Samsung tablet computer.

Google will buy facial recognition technology company Viewdle, according to reports from Bloomberg News and CNET. The deal is worth about $45 million.

THE FTSE 100             Closed               Down        11         @      5809 THE DOW JONES            @   17:00            Down        77         @     13437 THE NASDAQ               @   17:00            Flat       @      3112

Exchange Rates GBP – USD                @       17:00                1.6183 GBP - EURO               @       17:00                1.2497

Commodities

Gold USD/OZ            @        17:00               $1,780