RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO May 22nd 2012

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 closed up 1.9%, with miners pacing the advance amid signs that Chinese authorities may act to boost growth. Investors adopted an optimistic view ahead of Wednesday's EU summit, hoping that euro-zone leaders will agree more measures to tackle the region's debt crisis.

Leading the upside were the miners on the back of Chinese stimulus speculation. The China Securities Journal said that the world's second-largest economy might speed up approvals for infrastructure investment to counteract a slowdown. The report said that the government has asked for project proposals by the summer instead of the end of the year in an effort to stimulate the Chinese economy. Fresnillo, Antofagasta, Kazakhmys and Vedanta Resources were higher today.

Mobile phone networks giant Vodafone was in demand after saying it is expecting underlying growth in adjusted operating profit and stability in free cash flow in the current financial year.

High Street giant Marks and Spencer rose despite seeing profits drop by 15.7% in the year ended March 31st while slashing its short-term sales growth targets. Nevertheless, the full-year dividend was maintained at 17p per share with Chief Executive Marc Bolland saying that the company "performed well in a challenging economic environment". In the US shares of Facebook opened sharply lower, dipping under $32 a share from an IPO price of $38, after fresh reports raised new questions about the bankers' role in the company's initial public offering. The price of the shares has recovered since and is trading at over $33 dollars a share.

THE FTSE 100             closed                Up      98      @      5,403 THE DOW JONES            @ 17:00               Up      45      @     12549 THE NASDAQ               @ 17:00               Up      13      @      2861 Exchange Rates

GBP – USD       @      17:00               1.5775 GBP - EURO     @      17:00               1.2388



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