RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

4th May 2012

Evening  Report

The FTSE 100 closed down 111 points (1.9%) as downbeat nonfarm payrolls figures in the US undermined sentiment. The outlook does not look particularly promising and with QE still off the cards in the US, markets have little that they can use as a support for further gains. Monday, the UK market is closed for Bank Holiday.

Nationalised lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) finished slightly down in spite of positive first-quarter results. The group is to repay the final tranche of notes issued under the government's Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) next week, after posting a profit of more than a billion pounds in the first three months of 2012. Meanwhile Lloyds finished up 3%.

Mining stocks were out of favour on the back of concerns over weaker growth in Australia. Evraz, Antofagasta, Kazakhmys, Vedanta, Fresnillo and Rio Tinto were among the worst performers on the FTSE.

Oil giant Tullow dropped after saying that its Teak-4A appraisal well in the West Cape Three Points Block, offshore Ghana (in which it owns a 26.4% stake), encountered "thin, non-commercial reservoirs" and is, in turn, being plugged and abandoned.

Power systems group Rolls-Royce was down 0.6 percent after giving a brief trading update this morning, reassuring that trading since the start of the year has been consistent with previous guidance.

Drugs giant AstraZeneca was making gains after UBS reiterated its buy rating on the stock and added it to the 'UBS Key Calls' list. "With the announcement that CEO Brennan is retiring and new chairman Johansson is starting on June 1st, we increasingly see the likelihood of strategic announcements in 2012 that would unleash value in AZN shares," the broker said. The stock finished up in the red, down 0.6 percent.

THE FTSE 100 Closed                Down 111         @   5,655 THE DOW JONES @ 16.45              Down 129         @   13,077 THE NASDAQ COMP @ 16.45            Down 52          @   2,971

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD     @ 16.45            1.6144 GBP - EURO   @ 16.45            1.2330