RAMSEY CROOKALL

13th July

Afternoon Report

The FTSE 100 up 0.1%, edging up after falling on disappointing UK claimant count data, in which June jobless claims come in at 24,500, vs expectations of 15,000.

Burberry is up 3.5%, storming on stronger than expected 1Q results. By contrast, Marks & Spencer is down 2.5%, as investors worry about the difficult economic outlook that group faces in the months ahead.

Still to come, US import prices due later this afternoon, followed by testimony by Fed chief Ben Bernanke to the House of Representatives.

Iconic British luxury brand Burberry jumped higher early on after underlying sales soared by 34% in the first quarter, driven largely by strong retail growth in China.

Mining titan Xstrata was in demand after taking full control of the Pallas Green zinc project in Ireland, buying out the 23.6% interest held by its joint venture partner, Minco, for $19.4m. Sector peers Fresnillo, Antofagasta Randgold, Lonmin, ENRC, Kazakhmys, BHP Billiton and Anglo American are also firmer, tracking metals prices higher.

Marks & Spencer is one of  the worst performers despite seeing sales (excluding VAT) rise by 3.2% in the 13 weeks to 2 July, compared with the year before. Like-for-like (lfl) sales in the UK were flat on the general merchandise sales side, in line with the prediction made by broker Matrix Group, while food sales grew 3.3% on a lfl basis yoy, ahead of Matrix's forecast of 3.0% growth.

THE FTSE 100 at 12:00                         Up              6        @     5875

THE DOW JONES closed                          Down            58      @    12446                              NASDAQ COMP closed                            Down            20      @    2781                              Exchange Rates

GBP – USD           1.5948 GBP - EURO          1.1334