RAMSEY CROOKALL

19th July

Afternoon Report

The FTSE 100 is little changed in late morning trading, still 0.5% ,amid a shortage of fresh corporate news and economic data. Banks continue to lead, reversing Monday's sell-off, with Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group both up around 4.2%. Miners also perform well; Vedanta Resources advances 2.3%, Kazakhmys trades up 2.2% higher. Still to come, U.S. housing starts data announced later this afternoon. Sales and profits at Johnson Matthey, a top riser in the FTSE 100 today, both registered double-digit percentage gains in the first quarter of the platinum refiner's fiscal year.

London-based pub group Capital Pub Company has fallen into the arms of rival pub group Greene King, which has agreed to pay 235p a share for Capital. The agreed offer, which values Capital Pub at about £70m, is substantially ahead of the 200p rival London pubs group Fuller’s was willing to stump up for the operator of more than 30 pubs in the London area.

Real estate investment trust Land Securities said the outlook for development in London remains attractive while even the battered retail sector has its bright spots. "Retail demand has meant we have over the last few months also begun to step up our activity in retail development predominantly in edge of town locations and we now have a £275m, 1m square feet, pipeline of opportunities to meet the growing demand from food and fashion retailers for space," said Francis Salway, chief executive of Land Securities.

IG Group’s full year results have come in a shade of expectations, with the spread-betting company continuing to bag new clients in spite of tough economic conditions. In the year to 30 May, adjusted pre-tax profits came in £163m, up by 3.4% from the previous year, ahead of IG’s previous prediction of a 3% rise.

THE FTSE 100 at 12:00                       Up           25       @      5778

THE DOW JONES closed               Down         94       @      12385                             NASDAQ COMP closed                       Down         24       @      2765                                              Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.6115 GBP - EURO         1.1368