RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

17th November 2011

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 ends down 1.6%, in choppy trade as investors continued to express disappointment at the 10-year Spanish government bonds auction producing a euro-era high average yield of 6.975%. Worries about Spain's finances grip markets, with decent US economic data unable to lift sentiment. Yields on Italian 10-year bonds remain above 7%. Traders say the rise in bond yields reinforces fears that Europe's sovereign-debt crisis is spreading.  Banks took the biggest hit with Lloyds Banking Group down 4.6%.

The second half has been a mixed for Rexam, with out-performance by its Beverage Cans business more or less cancelled out by continued weakness on the Plastic Packaging business. As a result, the performance of the packaging firm overall has been in line with the board's expectations.

National Grid, the power grid operator, said it is well placed to deliver another good year after posting a small improvement in underlying profit at the half-year stage. Underlying profit before tax for the six months ended 30 September rose 2% to £953m from £938m; that was below the £985m the market had been expecting, but that did not stop the share price rising on the figures. The shares, however, closed down 0.27%.

The heavyweight mining sector lead the market lower. With the euro dropping to a five-week low against the dollar – on the back of the ongoing crises in the Eurozone - three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell to $7,615 a tonne in morning trade, down from $7,730 at yesterday’s close. Gold and silver prices were also down. Xstrata, ENRC, Fresnillo, Antofagasta, Vedandta and Kazakhmys all registering steep losses.

Set-top box manufacturer Pace slumped over 21% after the group confirmed that full-year profits will be well under previous estimates due to the problems arising from a plant closure in Thailand.

THE FTSE 100 Closed                                Down      85       @      5,423 THE DOW JONES         @ 16.40                      Up        5        @    11,911 THE NASDAQ COMP  @ 16.40                      Down      24       @     2,614

Exchange Rates GBP – USD     @ 16.40        1.5789 GBP - EURO   @ 16.40        1.1677

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