RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

MIDDAY REPORT 9 February 2011

London has paused for breath after a couple of days of decent gains despite LSE's merger plans and a strong finish on Wall Street where the Dow rose for its seventh straight day.

London Stock Exchange is locked in merger talks with Canadian peer TMX that could lead to the creation of the world's largest stock exchange by numbers of companies listed. The combined group, which jointly would be worth about £4.5bn, would also be the home for most mining company listings. The two groups have roughly equal market values at present.

Elsewhere, newspaper publisher and exhibitions organiser Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) said underlying revenue in the final three months of 2010 was up 5%. "Trading in the first quarter has been in line with our expectations, despite our consumer businesses being hampered by the poor weather in December,” said chief executive Martin Morgan.

Finally the Caribbean market remains subdued for telecoms group Cable & Wireless Communications but growth elsewhere should ensure results for the full year are broadly in line with market expectations. In the group's third quarter (Oct - Dec) the financial performance of Panama rebounded strongly, while Macau and Monaco & Islands continued to trade well.



THE FTSE 100 AT NOON IS DOWN 11 @ 6079 THE DOW JONES CLOSED UP 71 @ 12,223

THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED UP 13 @ 2797

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1.60 GBP - EURO 1.17