RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

17th June 2011

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 ended 0.3% higher, amid mounting hopes that a resolution to Greek crisis is on cards. Comments from Chancellor Merkel suggested that Germany has softened its stance on Greek debt restructuring, falling closer in line with views of France and ECB. London's heavily-weighted mining stocks lent support to the leading index, on higher metals prices.

Lonmin, Anglo American, Xstrata and Kazakhmys were among the best performers on the blue chip index, despite falling early on.

Elsewhere in mining, following the acquisition of an additional stake in Africa-focused coal miner Riversdale Mining, Rio Tinto announced on Friday that it has now taken full control of the target, after months of deliberation and deadline extensions. After edging lower early on, the mining giant joined its sector peers on the rise.

BAE Systems, the defence firm, headed lower after revealing that it will incur significantly higher-than-planned costs to complete the Omani Offshore Patrol Vessel programme. A charge of £160m (pre-tax) will be announced in its first half results.

Commodities trading house Glencore closed higher, helped by Charles Stanley which said that it sees this week’s share price decline (after the first quarter results) as an “over-negative interpretation of the CEO’s outlook for metal prices.”

Temporary power provider Aggreko was also helped by broker commentary, after Goldman Sachs raised its target price on the firm ahead of a trading update on Monday.





THE FTSE 100 closed Up 16 @ 5714

THE DOW JONES at 4:45 Up 72 @ 12034

THE NASDAQ COMP at 4:45 Up 7 @ 2631



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