RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO April 25th 2012

Morning Report

The FTSE 100 is up at 0.4%, firm but a touch off highs after the release of UK GDP data, which suggests the economy fell back into recession in 1Q '12, shrinking 0.2% after contracting 0.3% in 4Q '11. The market had been expecting a 0.1% rise for 1Q.

Smartphone chip designer ARM Holdings was the best performer in the opening hour after Natixis upgraded the stock from neutral to buy and Jefferies raised its recommendation from underperform to hold. Barclays Capital also reiterated its overweight rating this morning. A surge in earnings for Apple (a company which uses ARM technology) last night will also be providing upwards pressure on the shares today.

Assets under administration (AUA) at life assurance leviathan Standard Life rose a bit more than the market had been expecting in the first quarter of 2012, causing shares to advance. Financial peers RBS, Lloyds and Barclays were also making gains.

Diversified mining group Rio Tinto rose after receiving regulatory approvals for the development and operation of the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.

Leading the downside was Centrica, Reed Elsevier, Tesco and Rolls-Royce after going ex-dividend.

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

THE FTSE 100             @ 10:00       Up           25    @      5,734 THE DOW JONES            closed        Up           74    @     13001 THE NASDAQ               closed        Down         8     @      2961

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD       @      17:00                    1.6087 GBP - EURO     @      17:00                    1.2171