RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

30th August 2012

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 ends 0.4% lower at 5719.45 as investors await Fed Chairman Bernanke's speech Friday at Jackson Hole.  Miners was the sector under pressure today  with many defensive names benefitting from the risk off sentiment in the market.

Resources stocks such as Rio Tinto, Kazakhmys, BHP Billiton, Eurasian Natural Resources Corp and Vedanta Resources were registering losses today as risk appetite was scaled back ahead of the pivotal meetings of central bankers over the next week.

Kazakhmys was particularly under pressure after Jefferies downgraded the stock from 'buy' to 'hold', and said that it now prefers copper peer Antofagasta. The broker said that Kazakhmys's first-half results were "much less impressive" than Antofagasta and its 26% stake in ENRC is "not helpful". After an initial stint in the blue, steel group Evraz fell after reporting a tough first half after it was hit by falling steel sales and prices.  

Precious metals group Polymetal was also lower despite reporting a 41% increase in first-half revenue as gold sales volumes and prices rose.

Global advertising conglomerate WPP dropped after saying that it is set to achieve a full- year like-for-like (LFL) revenue increase some way short of previous expectations. The group is now forecasting LFL revenue growth for 2012 of 3.5%, versus a budgeted improvement of 4.0%.

Barclays was under the weather after promoting from within to fill its vacant CEO position, moving up Antony Jenkins, currently head of Barclays Retail and Banking. Barclays is under pressure after the Serious Fraud Office said it is investigating the lender in relation to payments made in the Middle East.

Car insurance group Admiral was also in the red despite reporting a record half-year profit and record interim dividend payment. The company noted a "marked change" in the core UK car insurance market in 2012 "premium rates falling and competitors seeking to add market share".

THE FTSE 100             closed           Down        24         @      5,719 THE DOW JONES            @ 17:00         Down        100        @     13006 THE NASDAQ               @ 17:00          Down        27         @      3053 Exchange Rates GBP – USD        @      17:00                             1.5793 GBP - EURO      @      17:00                             1.2638