RAMSEY CROOKALL
7th October 2011
Evening Report
European stocks were volatile on Friday afternoon in the wake of U.S.payrolls
data that showed strong-than-expected growth in jobs, with resource stocks gaining
but with some banks still under selling pressure. The FTSE 100 closed up 0.23%.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) fell after the announcement of Moody's decision to
downgrade the bank's credit rating by two notches, which poured more fuel on rumours
that the firm could need an extra injection of capital from the government. RBS
issued a statement highlighting its disappointment with the news, which also saw
the ratings agency lower its rating on 11 other financial institutions. Lloyds was
also affected by the en-masse downgrade, the shares closed down 3.36%.
Mining giant Xstrata rose after announcing that it has - through its Xstrata Coal
subsidiary - agreed to buy the Lossan metallurgical coal deposit from Cline Mining
Corporation for C$40m (£24.9m). “Lossan is located in the Peace River Coalfield of
north eastern British Columbia, Canada, and is surrounded by a group of licences
recently acquired by Xstrata Coal through the acquisition of First Coal Corporation
in early August 2011," the group said.
Elsewhere, India-focused Vedanta Resources PLC said Friday it expects to complete
the purchase of a majority stake in oil and gas explorer Cairn India Ltd. (532792.BY)
by the end of the year.
Heating and plumbing giant Wolseley was the high riser though, gaining 4.05% after
revealing a huge upwards swing in the P&L account earlier in the week.
THE FTSE 100 closed Up 12 @ 5303
THE DOW JONES at 16:40 Up 23 @ 11146
NASDAQ COMP at 16:40 Down 27 @ 2478
Commodities
Spot Gold $/Oz $1650 Up 0.03 %
Brent Crude Oil $105 Down 0.34 %
September Delivery
Exchange Rates
GBP – USD 1.5610
GBP - EURO 1.1562
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