RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

MORNING REPORT 14 February 2011

The departure of Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak and gains on Asian markets have given the FTSE 100 an early lift.

Miners are going well after strong trade figures from China. Xstrata and Rio Tinto lead the sector higher. Reports that China's inflation numbers tomorrow may be better than expected has also lifted the mining sector.

Engine maker Rolls-Royce has won a $2.2bn (£1.4bn) contract with Emirates to look after its Trent engines on 70 of the airline’s new Airbus A350XWB aircraft.

Elsewhere, Cable & Wireless Communications has been downgraded by UBS to “sell” from “neutral.”

National Express has denied weekend reports that hedge fund Elliott wants the bus and train group to put itself up for sale or to merge with Stagecoach or SNCF of France.

Recruiter Harvey Nash's trading in the second half has been strong and results this year will be ahead of market expectations. Total revenue for the year to January will be £425m, gross profit of £68m and profit before tax of circa £6m, up 46% on the previous comparable year.

Finally, LED lighting developer Dialight doubled profits in 2010 – “a very satisfactory performance” – following progress in ultra efficient lighting and signalling. The group, which said last month that full-year results would beat expectations, posted a profit before tax of £11.3m, up from £5.3m in 2009. Revenue jumped 28% to £99.2m.

THE FTSE 100 AT 9.30 IS UP 5 @ 6068 THE DOW JONES CLOSED UP 43 @ 12,273

THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED UP 14 @ 2379

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1.6025 GBP - EURO 1.1893