RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO April 20th 2012

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 closed 0.5% higher at 5772, Utilities posted strong gains, with Severn Trent and United Utilities rising . Miners were  also on the front foot . Encouraging results from McDonald's and General Electric in the US lent support too. On the downside, ARM Holdings is the biggest loser, on negative read-across from US peer Qualcomm.

Banking group Lloyds was on the rise ahead of results on May 1st, helped by a buy recommendation from Investec. "Return on equity recovery will be painfully slow, but (whisper it quietly) the worst looks to be behind us now," the broker said.

Financials  performed strongly with hedge fund manager Man Group leading the way after its recent underperformance. Shares were up nearly 4% today but still down 12% on the week.

Meanwhile, chip-designer ARM Holdings was a big faller ahead of the release of its first- quarter results next week. Jefferies this morning raised its target price on the stock but maintained its underperform rating, saying "we think a lack of visibility on the long-term potential has stymied sentiment."

Another big faller was High Street giant Marks and Spencer after Investec downgraded its rating for the stock following this week's fourth-quarter update disappointed - in its own words, the stock is 'off the Mark and lacking Spark'.

Supergroup's Superdry shares fell in the market today, after another profit warning from the group. The group, which has struggled to cope with its astonishing upsurge in popularity of its products, admitted on Friday morning that there have been arithmetic errors in its forecast of the wholesale business's performance amounting to a shortfall of some £2.5m in the current fiscal year.

Telecoms group Cable & Wireless Worldwide continued to fall after last night it extended the time required for Vodafone to come up with a formal offer for the group. The group took a tumble yesterday after it was revealed that India’s Tata Communications was no longer interested in bidding for the company.

THE FTSE 100             closed          Up           27       @      5,772 THE DOW JONES            @ 17:00         Up           106     @     13070 THE NASDAQ               @ 17:00         Up           17       @      3024

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD       @      17:00                 1.6124 GBP - EURO     @      17:00                 1.2203

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