RAMSEY CROOKALL

4th    August

Morning Report

The FTSE 100 trades down 0.1% , having moved into the red as heavily-weighted mining stocks decline. Kazakhmys is down 1.9% and BHP Billiton down 2.2%. Meanwhile, Lloyds Banking Group is down 3.6% after having traded as much as 1% higher earlier following its 1H results. But Inmarsat is the biggest drag, down nearly 20% after it cut growth expectations in its key maritime business.  Despite some decent earnings from the likes of Unilever, shares of which trade up 6.5% and Randgold Resources, up 3.2%, and the insurers, worries about euro-zone debt and a stalling US economy continue to undermine sentiment. BOE and ECB rate decisions are announced later this morning, while US initial jobless claims are announced before the open in America. Strong growth in emerging markets helped Anglo-Dutch food and household goods giant Unilever post higher sales and profits in the first half, though margins fell back as price rises failed to wholly offset the impact of higher input costs. The maker of Dove soap, Magnum ice creams and a host of other brands, posted turnover of €22.79bn for the first half, up 4.1% from the same period a year ago, while net profit climbed by 9% to €2.4bn.

Insurer Aviva and gold miner Randgold Resources are also up on second quarter results, but Inmarsat has come crashing back down to earth after the satellite operator’s interim numbers

In the FTSE 250, US payment services provider Fidelity National Information Services has pulled out of offer talks with application software provider Misys, a heavy faller today.

THE FTSE 100 at 9:45                   Down           7             @       5577

THE DOW JONES closed                  Up            29             @       11896                           NASDAQ COM at closed                   Up            23             @        2693                                      Exchange Rates

GBP – USD           1.6380 GBP - EURO          1.1477