RAMSEY CROOKALL

15th  August

Morning Report

The FTSE 100 is edging up Monday, lead by strong gains in mining stocks as base metal prices recover. Fresnillo is up 3% and Kazakhmys up 2.4%. A rise in oil prices also helps oil equities with Petrofac improving 2.5% and Essar Energy up 1.4%. No major domestic data is due so the focus is on US Empire State manufacturing data released before the US open.

Kazakh copper miner Kazakhmys is one of the top risers in the FTSE 100. Prices for the red metal have been rising on the London Metal Exchange.

In company news, international recruitment firm Michael Page is sharply lower. It made a flying start to 2011 but said profit growth in the banking sector has tailed off in the second half of the year. Profit tax before non-recurring items jumped 37.9% to £45.5m from £33.0m the year before. Peer Hays is lower in sympathy.

Precision instrumentation and controls company Spectris is in demand after saying is to acquire Omega, a privately held US business providing measurement and control instrumentation services to industrial and academic customers, for $475m (£290m). Chief executive John O’ Higgins also said that Spectris’s trading has been in line with expectations since 15 July.

Oil services group Hunting has also acquired a measurement-type company, snapping up US specialist precision machining services group Dearborn Precision Tubular Products for $83.5m (£51.1m).

After just three months outsourcing and energy services firm MITIE had secured 85% if its budgeted revenues for the financial year, as at the end of June. The order book i

THE FTSE 100 at 10:30            Up          34            @       5354

THE DOW JONES closed             Up          125           @       11269                        NASDAQ COM closed                Up          15            @       2507                                Commodities Spot Gold $/Oz           $1738 Brent Crude Oil          $108.11 September Delivery   

Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.6317 GBP - EURO         1.1400