RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO  18th July 2012

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 ends 1% higher at 5685, with investors encouraged by upbeat US housing data and better-than-expected US earnings. There is no reaction to Fed Chairman Bernanke's second testimony before Congress, with traders pointing out he offered little new information.

Security solutions group G4S was performing well as it attempts to claw back some of the losses it has incurred over the last week - including today's gain, the stock is still down nearly 15% on last Wednesday. The group said on Monday that it will take a 35-50m pound loss on its Olympics contract.

Fund manager Ashmore was a high riser after Goldman Sachs upgraded its rating on the stock to 'buy'.

Silver and gold miner Fresnillo surged after notching up record levels of gold production in the second quarter, while silver output was up quarter-on-quarter.

Meanwhile, RSA Insurance became a heavy faller after the miserable weather over the past few months put a dampener on its full-year underwriting performance.

Wireless technology and computer chip company CSR was in the red, pulling back after gaining over 30% the day before as it announced the sale of its handset connectivity technology business to Samsung. UBS downgraded the stock from 'buy' to 'neutral' this morning.

Telecom Plus, which supplies a wide range of utility services, took a hit despite saying it has said that half-yearly results will be firmly ahead of the corresponding figures for last year, and it remains on target to meet market expectations for the full year.

THE FTSE 100             closed             Up           56        @      5,685 THE DOW JONES            @ 17:00            Down        75      @     12881 THE NASDAQ               @ 17:00           Down         31        @      2941 Exchange Rates GBP – USD        @      17:00              1.5634 GBP - EURO      @      17:00              1.2751