RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO
9th June 2011
Morning Report
The FTSE 100 trades up 0.1%, supported by strength in the heavily-weighted mining sector. On the downside, retailers are under pressure following a disappointing 1Q update from FTSE 250-listed Home Retail Group.
In terms of data, UK trade balance figures and the BOE rate announcement come later this morning.
In the FTSE 100, Marks & Spencer and B&Q owner Kingfisher are among the heaviest fallers, while South American copper miner Antofagasta rallies after declining on the back of the its production report yesterday.
Ongoing difficulties at the catalogue-based retailer Argos continue to plague its owner Home Retail Group, which has announced an 8.1% fall in sales at the chain to £817m in the 13 weeks to 28 May. The shares are down by more than 12%. On a like-for-like basis, excluding the impact of new openings, sales at Argos were down by 9.6% from the same period the previous year during the period.
Car parts and bikes retailer Halfords reported a solid set of full year results despite ongoing retail sluggishness, helped by improved gross margin and cost control.
Shares in African Barrick Gold rallied after it repeated its assertion that the Tanzanian government has no plans to impose a “super-tax” on the country’s mining industry, pointing out that no such proposals were in the Budget the finance minister presented to parliament yesterday.
Spreadbetting firm IG Group expects trading revenue for the year ended 31 May to be 7% ahead of last year, as strong growth in Europe and Singapore offset a weakening performance in Japan.
THE FTSE 100 at 9:45 Down 7 @ 5815
THE DOW JONES closed Down 21 @ 12048
THE NASDAQ COMP closed Down 26 @ 2675
Exchange RateS
GBP – USD 1.6452
GBP - EURO 1.1246
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