RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO April 3rd 2012

Evening Report

European stock markets turned lower in a choppy session as losses for banks weighed on sentiment and Spanish and Italian bond yields surged on debt concerns.

Aberdeen Asset Management, which is hoping to get the investment mandate at Alliance Trust should the under-siege investment trust outsource its portfolio management, was the top performing blue-chip on after Morgan Stanley recommended acquiring the shares.

Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline  received top-line results from seven of the eight 'Harmony' drug development Phase III studies investigating the use of albiglutide in type 2 diabetes. Glaxo said that based on the studies it has performed so far, there is enough information to support progression to regulatory submissions, as a possible once-weekly treatment for type 2 diabetes.

Contract caterer Compass fell after Morgan Stanley cut its rating from 'overweight' to 'equal weight', though the price target has been raised from 630p to 670p. Blackrock, a major holder of the stock, lobbed out 8.3m shares of the stock following the downgrade.

Oil and gas group Heritage Oil was in the top spot among FTSE 250 stocks on the back of a successful drilling result at its Miran West-3 well in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Cairn Energy revealed it is splashing out $450m dollars on Agora Oil & Gas, a firm with North Sea interests and owned by Lord Rothschild's investment trust, RIT Capital Partners. Meanwhile, mining titan Xstrata has sold a majority interest in its Chilean hydroelectric development company to Origin Energy.

THE FTSE 100             closed            Down        36        @    5,838 THE DOW JONES           @ 17:00            Down        47        @    13216 THE NASDAQ              @ 17:00            Down        3         @    3116

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD       @      17:00                   1.5963 GBP - EURO     @      17:00                   1.1970