RAMSEY CROOKALL

5th  October 2011

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 ends 3.2% higher. Banks and basic resources lead the gains following reports that E.U. leaders are looking at recapitalization plans for Europe's banks. However, many traders attribute the gains to a "dead cat bounce" and say volumes have been low. Thursday, the BOE rate announcement is due late morning, with investors keen to see whether a further round of quantitative easing will be endorsed.

Among the U.K.’s banks, shares of Barclays, rose 7.69% and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC gained 4.83%.

Supermarket chain Sainsbury rose 3.69% after it reported a better-than-expected 5.4% rise in comparable sales in its fiscal second quarter, or 1.9% excluding fuel sales. Analysts had been expecting comparable sales to rise by 1.7% excluding fuel. Also Wednesday, rival Tesco PLC  reported a 17% rise in first-half profit to 1.38 billion pounds ($2.13 billion).

House builders are among the top performing stocks, with shares in Taylor Wimpey rising 7.0% and Barratt Developments PLC rising 8.1%.

Commodities stocks were mostly higher, including gains of 3.98% for oil giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC and 4.92% for rival BP PLC as crude-oil futures strengthened, pushing back toward $78 a barrel in New York.

THE FTSE 100 closed                       Up            157       @        5102

THE DOW JONES at 16:50                   Up            40        @        10848              NASDAQ COMP at 16:50                      Up            28        @        2432               Commodities

Spot Gold $/Oz           $1612            Down          0.69 % Brent Crude Oil          $101             Down          0.10 % September Delivery     Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.5424 GBP - EURO          1.1590