RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

MORNING REPORT

29 NOVEMBER 2010 UK shares have made a bright start to the week led by the banks after Ireland signed up to the EU/IMF bail-out at the weekend.

Royal Bank of Scotland is the best performer. It has the largest exposure of the UK banks to Ireland. Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC are all going well.

Bank of Ireland, meanwhile, vowed to raise the €2.2bn demanded under the terms of the Irish bail-out through its own efforts and without the help of the Irish state. The Irish bank has to raise the additional capital by the end of next February or else get the cash from the Irish state, which would amount to effective nationalisation.

Elsewhere, BP has sold its stake in Argentina-based oil and gas company Pan American Energy (PAE) to Bridas Corporation for $7.06bn (£4.52bn) in cash. BP’s 60% will give Bridas, which already owns 40% of the business, full control when the deal completes in 2011. It also puts BP firmly on course to hit its $30bn target of asset sales, announced in July, by the end of next year. Today’s deal pushes the total so far to $21bn.

UK smartphone users won’t rack up such huge bills when travelling in Europe after Vodafone today cut the price of sending emails and surfing the net while abroad. Occasional travellers will be able to take a domestic data plan overseas for €2 (£1.70) per day, 60% less than the company’s existing plans. It also includes an increase to the data allowance.

Finally, Qantas on Sunday began flying its Airbus 380s for the first time since a mid-air explosion of a Rolls-Royce engine forced one of the Australian airline's jets to make an emergency landing earlier in November.

THE FTSE 100 AT 9.30 IS UP 48 @ 5717

THE DOW JONES CLOSED DOWN 95 @ 11,091

THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED DOWN 8 @ 2534

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1.177 GBP – EUR 1.17