RAMSEY CROOKALL

29th  September 2011

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 ends down 0.4%, significantly underperforming its main European peers, which end in the black. Heavily-weighted mining stocks are the main drag, following weakness in the copper price, as investors fret about a hard landing in China.

Following stronger banking sectors on the continent, shares of heavily-weighted Standard  Chartered rose 2.6%, while Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC gained 2.3% and Lloyds Banking Group PLC added 1.4%.

Keeping pressure on the index were miners  as they eased back on earlier losses triggered by a sharp fall for December copper futures in New York on Wednesday. An increase in margin requirements to trade copper on the London Metal Exchange helped weigh on copper prices yesterday. Among copper miners, shares of Xstrata PLC    fell 1.6%, while Antofagasta PLC dropped 2.4% and Vedanta Resources PLC fell 1.7%. Sweeteners group Tate & Lyle eas in demand after saying it expects to perform in line with expectations over the full year after a strong performance in the six months to 30 September. In the specialty food ingredients division, corn-based specialty sweetener and starch volumes grew in line with the market, the firm said. The share price of Imperial Tobacco has been lit up by bid rumors. The shares closed up 2.3%.

Outsourcing giant Capita Group has won a contract with The Pensions Regulator to support the regulator's direct communications with employers for automatic enrolment of staff into workplace pension schemes which will be phased in from October 2012. The seven-year contract has an option for the regulator to extend it for a further three years and has an estimated value of £105 million.

Compass said it put in “another good performance” in the fourth quarter of the financial year, with organic revenue growth expected to exceed 4%, though the catering giant has seen some pressure on volumes recently. Over the full year, Compass expects total revenue growth of 9%, or about 5% on an organic basis. 

THE FTSE 100 closed                    Down        20        @         5196

THE DOW JONES at 16:40              Up          180       @         11190                    NASDAQ COMP at 16:40                   Down        7         @         2483









              Commodities Spot Gold $/Oz           $1620            Up              0.76% Brent Crude Oil          $104.81          Up              1.68% September Delivery   

Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.5678 GBP - EURO          1.1493