RAMSEY CROOKALL

19th July

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 closed up 0.6%, recouping come of its losses from Monday. In particular, IBM's positive results helped the technology sector, while investors picked up bargains in the bank sector. Tomorrow, investors will undoubtedly focus on the Bank of England's minutes from the July Monetary Policy Committee meeting, released early tomorrow.

Lloyds, RBS and Barclays were in demand, following the sector’s sell-off yesterday on the back of concerns over the softness of last week’s European banking stress tests.

Lloyds was the high riser of the day, after announcing that it is aggregating the wholesale markets, treasury and trading, transaction banking and corporate banking business lines as part of its recently announced strategic review. Lloyds has added new members to the management team and said the aggregation will allow the bank to simplify wholesale banking organisational structure.

Copper miners Kazakhmys, Vedanta Resources and Antofagasta made gains, tracking copper prices higher. London copper futures had risen 1.95% to $448.90 in this afternoon’s trading.

Sales and profits at Johnson Matthey both registered double-digit percentage gains in the first quarter of the platinum refiner's fiscal year. The Shares rose over 4% in the afternoon.

Advertising firm WPP rose after investing $3m for a minority stake in Affectiva, a technology firm that specialises in measuring the emotional responses of consumers.

Real estate investment trust Land Securities dipped into the red despite saying the outlook for development in London remains attractive while even the battered retail sector has its bright spots.

THE FTSE 100 closed                    Up             25        @      5778

THE DOW JONES at 4:50                Up             105       @      12490                             NASDAQ COMP at 4:50                    Up              44       @      2809                                              Exchange Rates

GBP – USD           1.6121 GBP - EURO         1.1380