RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

29th August 2012

Evening  Report

The FTSE 100 finished down 32 points (0.56%) @ 5,743 Overall the tone remains one of nervousness and a reluctance to make bold moves ahead of Bernanke's Jackson Hole speech on Friday. As the much- hyped speech gets ever closer, more and more investors are succumbing to the temptation to sit on their hands. Miners suffered the heaviest losses with Rio Tinto down 3%

Ex-dividend stocks were also providing a drag today, including heavyweights Croda International, Glencore, Legal and General and Xstrata.

Glencore and Xstrata were also being pressured lower by reports that Xstrata shareholder Norges Bank Investment Management has raised its stake in the miner in the last few weeks. The Norwegian fund is expected to join forces with Qatari Holdings to vote to block the merger between the two groups.

Copper producer Antofagasta was also lower despite beating EPS estimates in the first half as a decrease in copper prices was offset by higher levels of production.

Shares in Marks and Spencer were in red once again as takeover speculation continues to fade. The stock jumped on Friday after Bloomberg reported that private equity firm CVC was considering making an offer. However, analysts at Investec have said this morning that a successful bid is unlikely and the "bid spec bubble" is expected to burst.

Outsourcing group Serco was higher after saying that it expects good growth in full-year organic revenues in 2012 despite a 2.1% fall in the first half.

THE FTSE 100 Closed                   Down               32       @  5,743

THE DOW JONES @ 16.30                 Down               15       @   13,122

THE NASDAQ COMP @ 16.30               Down                6       @  3,070

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD     @ 16.30            1.5832 GBP - EURO   @ 16.30            1.2629