RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO
EVENING REPORT 4 MARCH 2011
A weak start on Wall Street sent London to an intra-day low, with miners
turning tail.
US monthly non-farm payrolls were better than expected, but not by much.
Investors don’t look keen to open up any new positions ahead of the weekend.
Mining heavyweights Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Kazakhmys were all lower,
having done well earlier on. Rio closed down 37p at £43.14.
Advertising giant WPP was top of the fallers though, despite making over £1bn
for the first time ever in 2010. Barclays Capital sees better value in sector
peers with more exposure to the UK.
There were further losses for HSBC, still reeling from Monday’s disappointing
full year numbers.
International recruitment firm SThree joined the list of job agencies reporting
a continuing general uplift in the staffing market, though the shares are down
today. Group gross profit, at constant exchange rates was up 19% to around £42m
in the three months to 27 February from £35.8m a year earlier.
Low cost airline easyJet saw a steep rise in the number of passengers carried in
February from a year ago, though the gain was not as sharp as January’s. The number
of passengers carried on the airline’s familiar white and orange planes rose 13.1%
to 3.83m in February from 3.39m in February 2010.
Finally, the sharp rise in the share price of oil explorer and producer Range Resources
is as much of a mystery to the company’s board as it is to the watchdogs down at the
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). .
THE FTSE 100 CLOSED DOWN 14 @ 5990
THE DOW JONES AT 4.40 IS DOWN 52 @ 12,205
THE NASDAQ COMP AT 4.40 IS DOWN 12 @ 2786
Exchange Rates
GBP – USD 1.6277
GBP - EURO 1.1663
Friday 4th, March 2011 05:10pm.
