RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO April 25th 2012

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 closed 0.2% higher at 5718.89  closing off lows despite 1Q GDP data that confirmed a contraction in UK economic growth. On the upside, miners lead gains, bouncing from recent lows.

Shares of Apple  were up 9.6% as a slew of brokerages upped their price targets for shares of the most valuable company on the planet, the morning after Apple reported a quarterly profit that blew out expectations. The company announced its earnings surged 93% in the March quarter, largely powered by stronger-than-expected sales of the iPhone.

Back in London, Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC weighed on the index with a 2.8% drop. It reported a 13% profit fall in the three months to March 31, meeting analysts’ expectations, but a sales gain of 0.8% fell short of forecasts.

Miners were in demand following comments from Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao that the government is committed to reforms in the country that are expected to ensure growth in the second-largest economy in the world remains robust.

Vedanta was the biggest riser, with Xstrata, Kazakhmys and Anglo American all making strong gains.

Smartphone chip designer ARM Holdings was also a significant riser, helped by forecast-beating results last night from Apple (which reportedly uses ARM technology in its gadgets) and a number of broker upgrades. Jefferies raised its rating on the stock from undeperform to hold on the back of the recent share price slump and said: "We believe ARM has a solid execution 2H ahead (Royalties, Licensing) in smartphones."

Leading the downside were Centrica, Reed Elsevier, Tesco and Rolls-Royce after going ex-dividend. From today, investors will not have the right to the stocks' latest dividend payments.

Russian miner Polymetal was lower despite saying that it is on track to deliver one million ounces of gold equivalent production in 2012. Revenue in 2011 rose 43% to $1,326m helped by rising gold prices.

Oil and gas engineering firm Lamprell rose after saying it was to build two further rigs for Abu Dhabi's National Drilling Company (NDC).

THE FTSE 100              closed         Up         9      @      5,718 THE DOW JONES            @ 17:00         Up         70     @     13071 THE NASDAQ               @ 17:00         Up         57     @      3018











Exchange Rates

GBP – USD       @      17:00                  1.6147 GBP - EURO     @      17:00                  1.2225