RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

10th July 2012

Evening  Report

The FTSE 100 finished up 0.7% at 5664, though off its session high of 5688. Upbeat UK industrial production data helped the mood. Meanwhile, the agreement to hand over EUR30 Billion to Spain's banks by the end of July also brightens sentiment. Mid-cap stock Afren surges 9.1% on bid speculation.

First-quarter like-for-like (LFL) sales took a tumble at High Street giant Marks and Spencer, though the food business held up well, and full-year guidance remains unchanged, prompting shares to rise.

BAE Systems is moving higher on the back of positive comments out of UBS.

Mining heavyweights were on the rise after the release of the UK manufacturing data: Vedanta, Xstrata, Glencore and Evraz were registering decent gains through the day.

Utilities group SSE also edged higher after Investec upgraded its rating on the stock from 'hold' to 'buy' and raised its target price from 1,226p to 1,479p to "reflect our increased confidence that SSE will now deliver significant value from its capital investment."

Meanwhile, catering giant Compass was lower after sector peer Sodexo saw growth slow in the third quarter.

GlaxoSmithKline is the second biggest percentage faller after UBS downgraded the company’s profit estimates and cut its price target on the company´s shares.

THE FTSE 100 Closed              Up 36         @    5,664

THE DOW JONES @ 16.30            Up 8         @   12,744

THE NASDAQ COMP @ 16.30         Down 11        @   2,920

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD     @ 16.30            1.5497 GBP - EURO    @ 16.30            1.2652