RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO
MIDDAY REPORT 4 JANUARY 2011
Big gains in the US overnight and a strong display in Asia this morning have
encouraged a rush of buying in London.
Banks are strong led by Royal Bank of Scotland on good economic data coming
out of Europe and the US yesterday, while Bank or America's settlement with
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has eased some concerns over US mortgage liabilities.
Barclays and Lloyds are also going well.
Elsewhere, no frills airline easyJet is to exercise its option to take delivery
of 15 Airbus A320 aircraft between 2012 and 2014. It has agreed new options over
a further 33 A320 aircraft, while 20 of the A319 aircraft which easyJet had
contracted to acquire from Airbus have been converted into orders for A320
aircraft.
Cairn Energy has agreed a contract to tie-up two drilling vessels for its
2011 exploration programme offshore Greenland. Subject to approval from the
government of Greenland, Cairn intends to drill up to four wells in 2011.
Cairn has also entered into a stand-by secured revolving debt facility of
$900m that will also provide funding for general corporate purposes.
Desire Petroleum crashed again as it confirmed drilling at its 25/5-1 well
on the Dawn/Jacinta prospect in the North Falkland Basin has reached target
depth but failed to find any oil.
The rig will now move to Rockhopper Exploration which will drill "one or
two wells", subject to regulatory approval, before returning to Desire to
drill a well at a location still to be finalised and subject to regulatory
approval.
THE FTSE 100 AT NOON IS UP 138 @ 6038
THE DOW JONES CLOSED UP 93 @ 11,970
THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED UP 15 @ 2691
Exchange Rates
GBP – USD 1.56
GBP – EUR 1.16
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Tuesday 4th, January 2011 01:11pm.
