RAMSEY CROOKALL

4th  July    Evening Report

The FTSE 100 closed up 0.46%, in thin volume trade today as the US markets are shut for the Independence Day holiday. Energy stocks  gained amid firmer oil prices with Bank stocks mostly lower. The falls for financials came after Standard & Poor’s said proposals put forward by French banks to roll over some of their Greek debt would likely be considered a default under the rating agency’s criteria. On the data plate for tomorrow, UK PMI services data is announced in the morning.

Real estate investment trusts are wanted, led by British Land, which is higher on the back of a "buy" recommendation from Deutsche Bank. The German bank thinks British land is set for a surge in the growth of it net asset value (NAV).

South West Water owner Pennon is to build a new plant to generate energy from waste in Exeter. The ‘Energy from Waste’ plant will process 60,000 tonnes of municipal waste a year and will require Pennon to stump up £45.6m in capital investment.

Scottish energy company Cairn Energy gave back all the gains and more that it made on Friday, when the Indian government finally gave the nod to the sale of the company's Indian oil assets to Vedanta Resources.

THE FTSE 100  closed                                  Up               27           @     6017

THE DOW JONES closed                                  Up               168          @    12582

THE NASDAQ COMP closed                                Up               42           @    2816   Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.6087 GBP - EURO         1.1074