RAMSEY CROOKALL

28th   July

Afternoon Report

The FTSE 100 is down 0.5%, falling further into the red as investors digest a fairly uninspiring Italian bond auction, which saw the country's funding costs rise. Worries about a potential U.S. default also continue to undermine sentiment. Dolmen  In the U.K., the CBI's Distributive Trades Survey reading fell short of expectations, hitting its lowest level in more than a year. In individual stocks, Centrica is the biggest faller, down 3% after 1H results. Still to come, U.S. initial jobless claims figures announced before the US open. Anglo-Dutch integrated oil company Royal Dutch Shell fell lower after it reported net income on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis, excluding specific items, of $6.6bn, compared to $4.2bn in the second quarter of last year. The figure was in line with market estimates.

Drugs giant AstraZeneca rose after despite seeing second quarter profit before tax slide 2%, or 4% on a constant exchange rates (CER) basis, to $2.86bn from $2.92bn the year before. Revenue rose 3% (but fell 2% on a CER basis) to $8.43bn from $8.18bn.

Rolls-Royce edged higher after it revealed record orders in the first half while profits jumped 28% to beat expectations, enabling the aerospace, power systems and defense group to up its payout to shareholders.

HSBC fell lower following speculation that it could soon announce more than 10,000 job cuts, according to insiders at the bank cited by Sky News, with some of those redundancies coming from the head office. The above as part of the bank’s efforts to improve its cost structure and return on equity.

THE FTSE 100 at 12:00                        Down            29           @       5827

THE DOW JONES closed                         Down            198          @       12302                             NASDAQ COMP closed                          Down             75           @        2764                                          Exchange Rates

GBP – USD           1.6317 GBP - EURO          1.1416