RAMSEY CROOKALL

12th  October 2011

Afternoon Report

The FTSE 100 up 0.47%, extending session gains Wednesday, with mining stocks leading the advance amid recovering base metals prices. Banking stocks are also gaining after EU Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said he would announce proposals to recapitalize European banks and improve economic governance in the euro-zone. Royal Bank of Scotland is up 2.2% and HSBC up 0.8%. This helped the London market push ahead, shrugging off poor UK labor data, which showed unemployment rose to its highest level in more than 16 years in August. There are no further major data releases due this session. U.S. stock futures point to a higher open for Wall Street as investors appear set to track a rise by European equities while shrugging off a disappointing start to earnings season by Alcoa Inc.  PepsiCo results are out before the US open.

Shares in copper miners Kazkahmys PLC and Antofagasta PLC rose 4.2% and 3.4%, respectively, as copper prices strengthened. However, Fresnillo has dropped 2.94% after cutting its full-year silver production target. Due to two fatalities in July, the gold and silver miner was forced to tighten safety conditions at the Fresnillo mine, causing a temporary slowdown in operations.

Fellow miner BHP Billiton is a shade higher, the shares were down in early trading, after giving the green light for US$1.2bn to be invested in the first phase of the Olympic Dam Project to develop an open pit mine in South Australia.

British luxury brand Burberry is up 3.00% despite revealing a slowdown in growth in the second quarter.  Wholesale revenues rose by 9% in the first half, the firm said it expects growth to fall to a mid single-digit percentage.

WPP, the FTSE 100 advertising firm, is up slightly after it agreed to take a majority stake in the Chinese digital agency A4A.

UK defence contractor BAE Systems reiterated that earnings for 2011 will be broadly in line with those of 2010 The shares are trading flat.

Hedge-fund manager Man Group PLC is the worst performer on the index, dropping 5.53%. The group said late Tuesday that its flagship AHL fund lost 5.5% of its value last week.















THE FTSE 100 at 12:00                      Up          26        @         5422 THE DOW JONES closed                       Down        16        @         11416             NASDAQ COMP closed                         Up          16        @         2583               Commodities Spot Gold $/Oz           $1683              Up                    1.23 % Brent Crude Oil          $111.80            Up                    1.41 %

Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.5762 GBP - EURO          1.1443