RAMSEY CROOKALL

23nd August

Morning Report

The FTSE 100 is up, maintaining solid gains, with just a handful of stocks in the red. G4S is the biggest gainer, up 5.9% after well-received 1H results. ARM Holdings gains 3.8% on bid speculation. Meanwhile, basic resources stocks are higher as investors note solid Chinese manufacturing data. UK CBI industrial trend data is due to be released.

Miners are in demand amid a perception that recent falls on worries over global economic growth may be overdone. Among the risers is South America-focused copper group Antofagasta which posted a sharp rise in profits for the six months to 30 June as prices for the red metal soared and said its ability to keep costs down leaves it well placed to come with recent commodity price volatility.



Segro is wanted despite the real estate group posting a 56.6% drop in half year pre-tax profit while rental income fell 6.1% as occupier markets recover slowly. Pre-tax profit fell to £64.6m in the six months ended 30 June 2011 from £148.9m the same a year earlier. Net rental income fell to £135.5m during the period from £144.3m before.

Also in property, Persimmon, the house builder, saw underlying profits surge in the first half of 2011 on the back of gross margin gains and a more efficient capital structure. Underlying profit before tax rose 52% to £59.7m in the first half of 2011 from £39.4m last year. Pre-tax profits after goodwill impairment and exceptional items were £60.3m, compared with £101.4m for the first half of 2010, which included a net exceptional credit of £63.6m.



THE FTSE 100 at 10:45 Up 64 @ 5165

THE DOW JONES closed Up 37 @ 10854

NASDAQ COM closed Up 3 @ 2345



Commodities

Spot Gold $/Oz $1884

Brent Crude Oil $108.80

September Delivery



Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1.6561

GBP - EURO 1.1428