RAMSEY CROOKALL

7th  July    Morning Report

The FTSE 100 is up 0.4%, nudging up following the release of UK industrial production data. UK manufacturing rose 1.8% month-on-month in May, higher than expected. The Bank of England's rate announcement at 11:00 will be in focus. No rate change is expected.

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.

Out-of-town home furnishings retailer Dunelm moved into like-for-like sales growth in the quarter year to 2 July, saying it is winning share in a struggling market.

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 10:00                                  Up                  26        @      6029

THE DOW JONES closed                                    Up                  56        @     12626                             NASDAQ COMP closed                                      Up                  8         @   2834                                                         Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.5980 GBP - EURO         1.1162