RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO      22nd March 2012

     Morning Report The FTSE 100 down 1.1% at 5827.78, extending losses on fears about slowing global growth after a raft of grim data releases, firstly from China, then the euro zone and now the UK. Manufacturing PMI from China kicked off the sour mood, escalating worries about the country facing a slowdown in growth. Euro-zone PMI's fell short of expectations, confirming that region is still in recession territory. And just out, UK retail sales volumes fell 0.8% from January vs forecasts of a 0.4% monthly fall. As such, the FTSE's decline from recent highs continues. Looking ahead, US weekly jobless claims are announced before the US open.

Shares in Randgold Resources tumbled in early trading after a military coup in Mali sparked concerns that operations at its Loulo and Morila gold mines in the country may be disrupted. According to media reports, rebel troops have taken over state radio and television in Mali to announce that they have seized control of the country. Just last night, Randgold announced that it has established a new company, Gounkoto, to exploit its Gounkoto deposit at Loulo, in which it owns a 80% interest.

Other miners were being weighed down by the gloomy Chinese manufacturing data, with markets worrying over the what this means for the demand for metals from the world's second-largest economy. Fresnillo, Rio Tinto, ENRC and Evraz were among the worst performers on the blue chip index.

Meanwhile, stocks were reacting to yesterday's Budget announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. Pharmaceuticals titan GlaxoSmithKline has confirmed that it will invest £500m in the UK to build a new factory and create 1,000 new jobs. Osborne said he wanted to encourage investment in R&D and manufacturing by reducing the rate of corporation tax. Self-storage group Big Yellow dropped after saying that, as a result of Budget proposals, it may have to start charging VAT to its customers later on this year.

Fashion retailer Next fell despite saying that the year to the end of January had finished well and 2011 and presented the retail sector with 'the perfect economic storm'. Meanwhile, sector peer Kingfisher was also down despite seeing sales and profits come in slightly ahead of expectations.

United Utilities was one of the few risers after saying that it is on track to deliver a 'good' underlying financial performance for the year ended March 31st, and is on course to meet its regulatory outperformance targets.

Industrial engineer AMEC was down after JP Morgan Cazenove cut its recommendation on the stock from overweight to neutral. Meanwhile, the REIT sector appears to have been taken down a notch by Espirito Santo which downgraded its ratings from buy to neutral for sector peers British Land, Hammerson, Land Securities, Shaftesbury, Great Portland













Estates and Derwent London.Gem Diamonds was a heavy faller on the FTSE 250 after Citigroup downgraded its rating on the stock from buy to sell.

THE FTSE 100 @ 10:15              Down            50     @      5,841 THE DOW JONES closed              Down             45     @    13124 THE NASDAQ @ 17:00                Up               1      @      3075

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD       @      10:15                         1.5795 GBP - EURO     @      10:15                         1.1999 ??

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