RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO May 11th  2012

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 was under some pressure early on with banks dropping on news of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s surprise $2 billion trading loss and resources stocks falling on risk aversion and downbeat Chinese data.  However after upbeat data on U.S. consumer sentiment the market rallied to close the day up 0.57%.

Retailer Marks & Spencer Group PLC gained more than 3% after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the shares to buy from neutral.

Mining stocks were pushed lower, with the demand outlook weighed down by gloomy Chinese data. Falling metals prices were also providing some downward pressure. Vedanta, Evraz, Xstrata, Glencore, Kazkahmys, Rio Tinto and ENRC were firmly out of favour, with the latter being weighed down by a target price cut from UBS after the miner's first-quarter production figures missed estimates.

Utilities were in demand as investors treated to the typically 'safer' stocks, with Severn Trent rising into the top spot, with United Utilities also making it into the top 10.

U.K. utility Centrica announced that it is trading is in line with its previous guidance as higher wholesale gas and power prices broadly offset the impact of milder weather on its energy supply business in the first quarter.

Speciality insurance company Catlin Group also rose after seeing an increase in the amount of premiums written in the three months to the end of March, while avoiding any catastrophe claims. Overall premiums are up 12% against the prior year, totaling $1.642bn.

THE FTSE 100              closed           Up         31      @      5,575 THE DOW JONES            @ 17:00           Up         40      @     12895 THE NASDAQ               @ 17:00           Up         19      @      2953 Exchange Rates

GBP – USD       @      17:00                   1.6079 GBP - EURO     @      17:00                   1.2429

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