RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

1st November 2011

Evening  Report

The FTSE 100 finished 2.2% lower at 5421, managing to claw back up from an intraday trough of 5338. Barclays is the biggest faller, falling 9.5% after a downgrade by UBS. But all the banks and financials are down following the surprise announcement by Greek PM Papandreou that he wants a referendum on the debt deal. Royal Bank of Scotland finishes 8.1% lower, Man Group 9.3% adrift. All eyes will be on Europe and whether the Greek government can survive the latest chapter in the debt story.

Legal and General saw sales drop slightly in the third quarter, although the company preferred to focus on its cash generation, which it said remains strong.

Nomura kept its buy rating and 180p target on the stock, while Investec kept its sell rating and 80p target.

Meanwhile, security firm G4S was on the up after pulling out of its attempt to buy the Danish cleaning company ISS for £5.2bn after shareholders blocked the deal.

According to Alf Duch-Pedersen, Chairman of G4S, shareholders raised concerns over the “scale and complexity” of the transaction.

Cigarette firm Imperial Tobacco was also rising after it saw full-year revenues rise 3.7% in the 12 months to the end of September despite a 1.5% decline in the volume of cigarettes and fine cut tobacco shipped. Revenues for the year totalled £29,223m, up from £28,173m the year before, even as the number of "stick equivalents" shifted eased to 343.4bn from 348.5bn the year before.

Nomura reiterated its buy recommendation and 2,400p target on the stock while Investec put its buy rating and 2,320p target under review.

Miners were out of favour on Tuesday also, as the worrying data in China spurred concerns over demand for resources from the world’s second-largest economy. Kazakhmys, Antofagasta and Xstrata were firmly in the red.

THE FTSE 100 Closed                           Down 122       @    5,421

THE DOW JONES @ 16.45                         Down 262       @   11,692

THE NASDAQ COMP @ 16.45                    Down 70       @  2,613











Exchange Rates

GBP – USD     @ 16.45      1.5953 GBP - EURO    @ 16.45      1.1652