RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

15th August 2012

Evening  Report

The FTSE 100 finished down 0.5% at 5833.04, having traded within a 40 point range. Amongst individual stocks, Standard Chartered is the biggest gainer, finishing up 4.1% after it agrees to pay a $340M fine related to Iranian banking transactions.

Eurasian Natural Resources closes 8.5% lower after reporting lower 1H profits as falling commodity prices dented its performance. Amongst mid-caps, FirstGroup slips 6.1%, as investors assess its prospects after winning the InterCity West Coast rail franchise.

In the U.K., the Office for National Statistics reported Wednesday that the unemployment rate was 8% for the three months to June 2012, down 0.2 percentage points over the quarter. See: U.K. unemployment falls to 8% in second quarter .

Elsewhere in the U.K., minutes released by the Bank of England showed that the central bank voted 9-0 to leave key interest rates unchanged in August. See: BOE unanimous in Aug. monetary policy decision.

Metals prices were lower. Tobacco companies also added pressure after an Australian law was passed banning almost all branding from cigarette packaging. See: Tobacco giants fail to stop new Australia law Imperial Tobacco Group PLC fell 1.7% and British American Tobacco PLC was down 0.3%.

Vodafone PLC slipped 0.8% after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded the telecommunications firm to neutral from buy. HSBC Holdings PLC  was down 0.3% after Investec downgraded the banking giant to hold from buy.

Moving in the other direction, life insurance firm Resolution Ltd. was up 5.2% after releasing results for the first half of the year. The company announced it would be “simplifying the governance structure” and raised interim dividends by 5%.

THE FTSE 100 Closed                        Down          31               @  5,833

AT 16.30   THE DOW JONES WAS               Down          7                @   13,164

THE NASDAQ COMP @ 16.30                    Up            11               @    3,028

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD     @ 16.30            1.5688 GBP - EURO   @ 16.30            1.2766