RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

EVENING REPORT 5 JANUARY 2011

The FTSE 100 moved back above 6,000 over the lunch time session and ended the day in positive territory, helped by a strong opening on Wall Street.

Miners remain a drag on the index, with the likes of Antofagasta, Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Kazakhmys falling back in line with softer metals prices.

Elsewhere retailers are in focus, with Next one of the top risers in the FTSE 100 after the fashion chain said it remains on track to meet full-year profit forecasts even though it lost an estimated £22m of full price sales in the run-up to Christmas due to the snow. Like for like sales between 1 August and 24 December tumbled 6.1%, worse than analysts expected.

Analysts are trying to spot the next retailer likely to blame bad weather for a disappointing Christmas and Nick Bubb at Arden Partners has suggested car parts and bikes seller Halfords is a likely candidate.

Meanwhile, entertainment media retailer HMV is in serious strife with a warning that it may struggle to meet bank covenants after sales tumbled in December. "Given the difficult trading conditions over Christmas and the likely outturn for the year, the board now expects that compliance with the April covenant test under the group's bank facility will be tight and is taking further mitigating actions during the next four months to address this," it said.

THE FTSE 100 CLOSED UP 29 @ 6043

THE DOW JONES AT 4.30 IS UP 13 @ 11,704

THE NASDAQ COMP AT 4.30 IS UP 14 @ 2695

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1.55 GBP – EUR 1.`17