RAMSEY CROOKALL

8th  August

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 closed down 3.39%, the market falling as declines in the U.S. accelerated. The DJIA has shed close to  300 points, while the S&P 500 is down 3.4%. The London benchmark is now some 16% off it s 2011 high. Miners are the biggest decliners, however, gold miners benefitted from the precious metals’ strength.

Mining giants Vedanta, Eurasian Natural Resources, and Kazakhmys plummeted following a drop in the base price of metals amid overwhelming economic instability. However, Randgold Resources and Fresnillo saw their share price head north on the back of an all-time high gold price. The gold price moved to new highs above $1700 an ounce.

Banks mostly gave back their gains, but Lloyds Banking Group PLC clung on to a 1% gain, having slumped close to 23% in the previous week.

Engineering firm Weir Group PLC   was the worst performer on the index, slumping 10% after Morgan Stanley cut its rating to equal-weight from overweight. The broker said order intake at the group has been “outstanding,” but that margins are falling and some of Weir’s peers have become more circumspect in the last few weeks.

THE FTSE 100 closed                         Down             178         @       5068

THE DOW JONES at 4:45                       Down             295         @       11148                          NASDAQ COM at 4:45                          Down              81         @       2451                                    Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.6337 GBP - EURO         1.1485