RAMSEY CROOKALL

16th  September

Morning Report

The FTSE 100 is up 0.35%, giving up much of its earlier gains with investors uncertain that the meeting of European finance ministers in Poland will necessarily result in any concerted action. Still, Thursday's stimulus moves by central banks to increase the market buttress the index, preventing major declines. Banks stand firm as the market tails off. HSBC is up 0.4%, Lloyds Banking Group retains a 0.5% gain. Basic resources however, exert a toll on the index amid concerns about a potential failure to deal with the European debt crisis: Kazakhmys loses 1.8%, while Lonmin drops 1.5%. On the data front, the University of Michigan consumer confidence survey comes before the US open.

BG Group PLC  rose 2.1% after a report in the Financial Times that the firm had considered selling a minority stake in its Brazilian oil and gas business and that Chinese companies were among the interested parties.

Shares in ARM dropped 1.6% after Research In Motion reported disappointing results late Thursday and as Goldman Sachs removed the stock from its conviction-buy list, but kept its overall buy rating.

Exillon Energy rose after saying that its well EWS I-44 has found oil in West Siberia. The FTSE 250 Russia-focused oil producer said that the well was spudded on 1 August and flowed water-free oil naturally to the surface with a flow rate of 768 barrels per day.

Satellite operator Avanti Communications was wanted following the announcement that it has been awarded a place on the Kent County Council Rural Broadband framework.

THE FTSE 100 at 10:00                     Up         18     @ 5356     THE DOW JONES closed                      Up         186    @    11433                       NASDAQ COM closed                         Up         34     @    2607               Commodities Spot Gold $/Oz           $1776 Brent Crude Oil          $113.15 September Delivery   

Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.5772 GBP - EURO         1.1430

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