RAMSEY CROOKALL

14th  October 2011

Afternoon Report

The FTSE 100 has extended gains as heavily-weighted mining stocks advance. Meanwhile, the issue of European sovereign debt remains firmly in focus, but news that G-20 officials are considering a boost to the IMF's lending capacity helps to underpin sentiment, although the talks are still at an early stage. In terms of data, US retail sales and the  University of Michigan confidence figures are announced before the US open.

Lloyds is one the heaviest fallers, a day after having its rating downgraded by Fitch. Lloyds, along with Royal Bank of Scotland had its rating cut from AA- to A, with Fitch saying that they are now less likely to receive government support in the future.

HSBC downgrades Severn Trent to underweight from neutral, but raises its target price to 1580p from 1560p. Says the target is lifted on lower cost of debt and better medium-term regulatory performance, "but downgrades to underweight as all good news is already priced in." HSBC also cuts the company's operating profit for 2012 and 2013.

Engineering software group AVEVA rose after saying that it is optimistic that a reorganisation in China should deliver strong growth in the second half.

Shares in Unilever are up 3.3 % after saying it will acquire an 82% stake in Russian beauty company Kalina.

Online fashion retailer ASOS dropped 7% after revealing that sales growth slowed down in the second quarter to 49%, from 63% in the first.

THE FTSE 100 at 12:00             Up         54        @       5457 THE DOW JONES closed             Down       40        @       11478             NASDAQ COMP closed                Up         11        @       2620               Commodities Spot Gold $/Oz           $1675                Up       0.45  %     Brent Crude Oil          $110.81              Up       1.56  %

Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.5767 GBP - EURO         1.1428