RAMSEY CROOKALL

7th July    Afternoon Report

The FTSE 100 trades up 0.4%, with investors picking up stocks on weakness from the previous session. Strong UK manufacturing data has  helped better the tone ahead of the BOE's key monthly rate-setting decision which is due to be released, although no change on policy is expected by the central bank. Also on the data plate, U.S. ADP employment figures and weekly jobless claims will be under the spotlight. GKN shares lead the FTSE 100 index on bid speculation from Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. An analyst covering the stock added that the speculation has a degree of substance behind it, with GKN having been touted as a takeover target before.

Man Group has risen after news that funds under management (FUM) at the hedge fund manager rose to $71bn at the end of June from $69.1bn at the end of March as the group racked up record sales in the quarter of $9.0bn, to post a net inflow of $3.7bn after redemptions of $5.3bn.

WH Smith reported a fall in sales in the 18 weeks to 27 July, but the newsagent and bookshop chain said it is continuing to grow margins. Total sales were down by 1% from the same period the previous year, or by 4% on a like-for-like basis, excluding the impact of new openings.

Support services group Carillion hailed a strong first half performance, with the group operating margin continuing to increase. The order book at the half year is expected to remain strong, plus the group has a record pipeline of contract opportunities.

In Europe, steel producer ThyssenKrupp is one of the worst performers, dropping 5.5% after the company said late yesterday that it would sell more than 49 million treasury shares in a move to reduce its net debt. The shares, which had been acquired through a series of buy-backs, were worth around 1.7 billion euros ($2.4 billion) at Wednesday’s closing price.

THE FTSE 100  at 12:00                   up               22             @     6025

THE DOW JONES closed                     Up               56             @     12626                                 NASDAQ COMP closed                       up               8              @     2834                                          Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.5981 GBP - EURO         1.1180