RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

21st  June 2011 Morning Report

The FTSE 100 is 0.8%, as firmer sessions on Wall Street and in Asia help better the tone. Investors are cautiously optimistic on hopes that the Greek confidence vote may pass later today, which should pave the way for passage of the budget bill before the end of June. Additionally, China's foreign ministry takes action to support Europe amid the debt crisis by boosting European bond holdings.

Strong sales growth at Costa coffee shops helped hotel and restaurant group Whitbread to offset subdued activity in its restaurant division to grow total sales by 9.2% in first quarter. Shares are over 5% higher.

Oil giant BP is heading higher after tying up another loose end relating to disputes over who should carry the can for the Deepwater Horizon tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico last year by coming to a settlement with US contractor Weatherford. Oil prices are also thought to be helping matters, with Brent crude futures and WTI crude futures higher.

Commodity prices are also helping the miners, with Kazakhmys and ENRC among the best performers on the blue chip index as copper, gold and silver futures rise by 0.59%, 0.15% and 0.19%, respectively.

Heading lower is brewing giant SABMiller after its £7.30bn offer for Australian rival Foster's Group was rejected by the Foster's board, as it "believes that the proposal significantly undervalues the company."

Providing a drag on the FTSE 250 however is Jupiter Fund Management after underwhelming the markets with its 3% growth in assets under management. "Against the backdrop of a more challenging flow environment, Jupiter has continued to make good progress," said chief executive, Edward Bonham-Carter.

THE FTSE 100 at 9:55                   Up                 48        @    5741

THE DOW JONES closed                   Up                 76        @    12080

THE NASDAQ COMP closed                 Up                 13        @    2629

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD           1.6180 GBP - EURO          1.1277