RAMSEY CROOKALL

5th  July    Afternoon Report

The FTSE 100 trades up 0.22%, edging further into the black. Despite the positive tone, gains are fairly muted with banking stocks and commodity stocks capping gains. US futures currently point to a moderately higher open on Wall Street, where industrial new orders are announced later this afternoon.

Tullow Oil announced record revenues in the first half of the year while achieving a 79% exploration and appraisal success rate. Total revenue for the first half of 2011 is expected to be a record for the company at around $1.05bn, compared with $486m for the same period in 2010.

House builder Persimmon said market conditions in the first half of the year have been stable. The group completed 4,439 homes, down from 4,657 in the first half of last year, with sales improving from the lower sales order book at the start of the year.

Interserve, a construction and outsourcing business, has said a flurry of government deals has boosted contract wins so far this year to around GBP1 billion. The firm has won several contracts with government agencies in the United Arab Emirates, including Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority and the Dubai International Airport.

Among the smaller companies, Croma is looking less like a penny stock after the security services provider said its subsidiary Photobase has won a £450,000 contract, its biggest to date, to develop security software for electronic security group CSS.

Trading is in line with expectations at the waste management group Shanks, but the chief executive Tom Drury is leaving to spend more time with his family and the shares are down.

THE FTSE 100  at 12:00                          Up               13            @     6030

THE DOW JONES closed                            Independence day                                                                                                 THE NASDAQ COMP closed                      Independence Day 

Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.6107 GBP - EURO          1.1128