RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

      3 September 2012

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 ends 0.8% higher at 5758.41, with miners leading the gains. Downbeat China manufacturing PMI data boost expectations for policy easing by the PBOC which in turn provides a lift to the mining sector.. Meanwhile, investors are looking ahead to the conclusion of the ECB and Bank of England monthly policy meetings Thursday and US nonfarm payrolls on Friday.

A strong showing by the miners assured that the FTSE was firmly in the red on Monday afternoon in spite of some steep falls for some heavyweight stocks, such as Glencore, Admiral and ARM Holdings.

Disappointing Chinese economic figures, which usually results in a sell-off in the mining sector, had the adverse effect today as speculation mounted that Chinese policy-makers would act to stimulate the world's second-largest economy, one of the biggest sources of demand for the miners.Resource stocks including Fresnillo, Vedanta, Rio Tinto and Kazakhmys were making decent gains this afternoon.

However, Glencore was bucking the trend on the back of rumours that it will be sticking to its original offer for mining group Xstrata in spite of growing opposition to the terms. Qatar Holdings, which owns around 12% of the group, confirmed last week that it would vote against the merger at the shareholder meeting on Friday.

Car insurance giant Admiral was under heavy selling pressure on Monday afternoon after Credit Suisse downgraded its rating on the shares, saying that there isn't much upside left in the stock. Canaccord Genuity also downgraded Admiral to 'sell' today, while Exane BNP Paribas reiterated its 'underperform' recommendation.

Chip group ARM Holdings was a heavy faller after Deutsche Bank downgraded its recommendation to 'sell'. Supermarket firm Morrisons was in the red after Nomura cut its rating to 'neutral'.

Oil giant Shell was in demand after announcing the sale of some of its Nigerian assets for $102m. The company says the divestment of its 30% interest in Oil Mining Lease 40 in the Niger Delta is part of a strategy to "refocus its onshore interests".

THE FTSE 100             closed       Up                 46       @      5,758 THE DOW JONES            closed       Labor Day                   @     13090 THE NASDAQ               closed                              @      3066

Exchange Rates GBP – USD        @      17:00                  1.5888 GBP - EURO      @      17:00                  1.2613