RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO 27th June 2012

Morning Report

The FTSE 100 trades up 0.3%, taking its cue from positive US and Asian sessions. Trading is expected to be fairly range bound ahead of Thursday's EU summit.

Banks were among the best performing stocks early on following slight falls the day before. Royal Bank of Scotland was a high riser, rebounding after its recent technical issues at Natwest. Lloyds and Barclays were also higher. Emerging markets-focused lender Standard Chartered rose after saying that the robust income growth seen in the first quarter continued into the second, although FX movements are still limiting the increase.

ICAP, Next and Compass Group were fallers after going ex-dividend - from today, investors will not be able to get their hands on the companies' latest dividend payouts.

International outsourcing firm Serco continued to fall after saying yesterday that revenues in the first half to take a hit from tough conditions in America. BarCap downgraded the stock to 'equal weight' this morning and cut its target from 600p to 560p.

Commodities marketer and producer Glencore International fell after confirming rumours that it is looking into shaking up management incentive arrangements as part of its multi-billion dollar merger with mining giant Xstrata.

Food ingredients group Tate & Lyle fell despite winning a court case in the US against equipment supplier Whitefox Technologies.

Specialist chemicals maker Yule Catto said the challenging trading conditions outlined in its May update have continued through the rest of the first half. Demand at its Europe and North America business segment, remains subdued, as it battles against deteriorating business confidence as economic uncertainty continues. Shares were down around 16%.

THE FTSE 100              @ 10:00             Up      18        @      5,465 THE DOW JONES            closed               Up     32        @      12534 THE NASDAQ               closed               Up      17        @      2854

Exchange Rates GBP – USD        @      10:00             1.5617 GBP - EURO      @      10:00             1.2500