RAMSEY CROOKALL

10th  October 2011

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 closed up 1.8%, shooting higher on a buoyant early session on Wall Street, which offered the London market direction. Investors are hopeful European leaders can piece together the bailout package for Greece and limit the fallout for the region's banking sector. Also, news that an investment arm of China's sovereign-wealth fund has bought shares in the banks on the Shanghai market has given London equities a lift. Helping the banking sector further, markets were also comforted by a rescue plan for troubled Franco-Belgian bank Dexia, which includes nationalisation of the Belgian unit of the bank and a EUR90bn funding guarantee for 10 years.

Shares of BP and Royal Dutch Shell PLC each gained around 2.5%. Essar Energy added 3%.

Among miners, Anglo American PLC rose 3.7%, Rio gained 3.28% and BHP Billiton added 2.8%. Shares of Antofagasta rose 2.38%, shaking off earlier losses. The miner was downgraded to underweight from equal weight by Morgan Stanley.

Michael Page International PLC fell 1.59%. The recruiter posted a third-quarter gross-profit rise of 26.6%, but Steve Ingham, chief executive officer, noted that “markets have weakened and become more uncertain, reducing our short-term visibility.”

ARM Holdings sits atop the leader board after RBS reiterated its "buy" status, a view contradicted by JPMorgan, who have set a 220 target share price for the firm, with the recommendation that clients be underweight in the stock. The shares closed up 6.58%

Imperial Tobacco was down as investors sold off typically safe stocks, which also included United Utilities Group and National Grid, as confidence grew on the promise of steps to resolve the European debt crisis.

THE FTSE 100 closed                        Up           95           @         5399 THE DOW JONES at 16:40                     Up           288          @         11384              NASDAQ COMP at 16:40                       Up           71           @         2550              Commodities Spot Gold $/Oz           $1670                Up            1.94 % Brent Crude Oil          $108.85              Up            2.90 % September Delivery   

Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.5681 GBP - EURO         1.1462