RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO 12th September 2012

      Morning Report

The FTSE 100 reverses losses, to trade up 0.5% at 5818.48, after Germany's Constitutional Court rules in favour of the ESM. The court moves to limit Germany's potential liabilities by attaching certain conditions. Meanwhile, UK unemployment data come in better than expected, sending sterling above $1.61--last at this level on May 15. Adjusted August jobless claimants were down 15,000, against expectations for the reading to be unchanged. The fall was the biggest drop since June 2010.

Kingfisher drops as profits fall .Wet weather and adverse exchange rates put a dampener on the first-half performance of do-it-yourself retailer Kingfisher, causing shares to slip early on. Sales in the 26 weeks to July 28th were down 3.3% while adjusted pre-tax profits slipped 15.5%. Seymour Pierce downgraded its rating on the stock this morning from 'hold' to 'sell'.

Insurance group Admiral was a heavy faller early on after going ex-dividend. Other FTSE 350 stocks going ex-div today include: 888, Antofagasta, bwin.party, Capita, Cookson, Ladbrokes, Rentokil and Hargreaves Lansdown.

House-builder Barratt Developments was firmly in the red despite revealing a 159.3% rise in pre-tax profit in the year to June 30th. The group signalled its intention to pay a final dividend in respect of the current financial year, but there was no pay-out for the financial year just gone.

Telecoms group Vodafone fell on reports that Verizon Wireless's special dividend may be delayed after people close to the matter said that the US mobile-phone joint venture will not discuss it at an upcoming meeting next week.

Oil and gas group Afren edged higher after saying that it has started drilling at its Simrit-3 well on the East Simrit prospect in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, just 10km east of the successful Simrit-2 well which was drilled a few months back.

THE FTSE 100             @ 10:00           Up              16     @      5808 THE DOW JONES            closed            Up              69     @     13254 THE NASDAQ               closed            Flat                @      3104

Exchange Rates GBP – USD        @       10:00             1.6113 GBP - EURO      @       10:00             1.2507