RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO 29th  March 2012

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 finished down 1.2% at 5742.03, led by banking sector, after weak economic data in Europe and the U.S. spurred selling. The European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator for the euro-zone fell to 94.4 in March from 94.5 in February, disappointing analysts’ expectations of an unchanged reading. Sentiment was damaged further by initial jobless claims in the U.S. number which fell by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 359,000 last week. Initial claims for the week before were revised up to 364,000 from 348,000.

High street retailer Marks & Spencer was among the worst performers after first-quarter numbers from the world's third-largest clothes retailer, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), missed estimates. The shares closed down a shade over 3%.

UK utility giant International Power was sitting pretty in the top spot after it confirmed that it has received a non-binding indicative proposal from French electricity giant GDF Suez to buy-up the remaining stake in the firm. The 390p-a-share cash approach - for the remaining 30% interest in International Power that it does not already own - is a slight premium to yesterday's closing price of 383.4p and values the business at just under £20bn.

Cigarettes maker Imperial Tobacco was also a high riser after saying it improved its revenue and profit momentum as it entered the second half of its financial year. First half reported tobacco net revenues (at constant exchange rates) are expected to increase by around 3%, compared with the 1% fall in the three months to the end of December.

Vodafone was another riser after it, along with Tata Communications, was given three more weeks to make a formal offer for Cable and Wireless Worldwide.

Earlier strength in the mining sector faded quickly after UBS cut its target prices for several mining stocks under its coverage. The Swiss broker also made a number of ratings downgrades, cutting its recommendations for Antofagasta, Kazakhmys and Petropavlovsk.

THE FTSE 100 closed                        Down           66         @      5,742 THE DOW JONES @ 17:00                      Down           83         @    13043 THE NASDAQ @ 17:00                         Down           27         @    3077

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD       @      17:00                         1.5910 GBP - EURO     @      17:00                         1.1995



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