RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

11th May 2011 Afternoon Report

The FTSE 100 is trading up 0.1%, remaining in the black following the release of the BOE's quarterly Inflation Report. The report is broadly in line with expectations, with the report detailing near term downward pressure on growth and upward pressure on inflation. BP has finally received approval by regulators to complete the purchase of ten Brazilian exploration and production blocks from Devon Energy. The Brazilian National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) has been deliberating the $7.2bn deal since last March, following delays due to the Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. HSBC has unveiled some details of its new strategic plan in which it will direct investment to fast growing markets while cutting back elsewhere. The group plans to focus on wealth management in 18 of the “most relevant” economies while limiting retail banking to those markets where it believes it can achieve profitable scale. Nevertheless, the shares continue to trade in the red. Energy services firm Wood Group is in demand after saying that it expects full year results to be in line with expectations. "The long term fundamentals for oil & gas and gas fired power generation remain strong and we believe the refocused group is well positioned to deliver good longer term growth," the group said And finally, a record number of customer transactions helped Sainsbury beat sales and profits forecasts, prompting the supermarket giant to hike its dividend by 6.3%. Sales grew by 7.1% from £21.42bn to £22.94bn, beating estimates of around £21.34bn, as a result of "market-beating like-for-like sales growth" (4.7%) and increased floor space, which contributed 2.4% to the rise.

THE FTSE 100 at 12:00         Up 1 @ 6020

THE DOW JONES Closed Up 75 @  12766

THE NASDAQ COMP Closed Up 28 @    2871

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD           1.6475 GBP - EURO          1.1468