RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

10th  November 2011

Evening  Report

The FTSE 100  ended down 0.3%, following a choppy session. Political progress in Greece and Italy provided some relief, as did Italy's easing bond yields, but investors remain concerned about what happens next. Miners are responsible for most of the downside with Randgold Resources down 3.6% and Antofagasta down 2.2%.

Experian rose, the credit reference and anti-fraud company, after it hiked its interim dividend by 14% after a strong financial performance in the first half of its financial year. Revenues of $2.3bn were up 15% on 2010's figure of $2.0bn. On a constant exchange rates (CER) basis, revenue was up 11% year-on-year, though some of this was achieved through acquisitions; organic revenue growth came in at 6%.

Acquisitive insurance group Resolution continued to perform well one day after it said its Friends Life Group subsidiary has entered into a 'transformational' outsourcing arrangement with Diligenta, an insurance services specialist that is part of Indian information technology (IT) contractor Tata Consultancy Services.

Kazakhstan-focused miner, Eurasian Natural Resources  rose despite reporting that its revenue in the first nine months of the year had increased significantly driven by higher prices for its main commodities and increased sales volumes. The firm spooked investors by saying its financial performance had been hit by higher prices for raw materials, pushing shares down 2% in early trading. Shares were up over 0.6% in the afternoon though.

Also rising was mining colossus Anglo-American after it sold off a large minority stake in its Chilean copper business for a reported $5.39bn to Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corporation. Meanwhile Vedanta's shares took a bashing, falling 70p to 1,180p in early trading in an admittedly weak mining sector, after the firm reported its half-year earnings per share took a dive. However, the company did unveil year-on-year increases in both revenue and profit for the half year ended 30 September on the back of production growth in zinc, silver, copper, aluminium and power.

Insurance titan Admiral was downgraded by UBS from buy to neutral by, who also slashed the target price by a whopping 45%, from 1,610p to 890p, following the group’s statement yesterday which resulted in over a quarter of its market value being lost.

THE FTSE 100 Closed                                    Down     15       @     5,444

THE DOW JONES         @ 16.40                          Up        71       @    11,851

THE NASDAQ COMP  @ 16.40                          Down      1        @     2,6202

Exchange RatesGBP – USD     @ 16.40        1.5900

GBP - EURO   @ 16.40        1.1713