RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO
EVENING REPORT
19 OCTOBER 2010
Having drifted aimlessly during the morning session shares turned briskly south over
lunch after China made surprise changes to some of its interest rates. The People’s Bank of
China upped its one-year deposit rate to 2.5% from 2.25%, while the lending rate has been
hiked to 5.56% from 5.31%, with effect from Wednesday.
Resource stocks who were already having a bad day, were sent further into decline by the
news. Xstrata, Vedanta, Fresnillo, Kazakhmys and Randgold are the big fallers in the sector.
Anglo American is less affected than most after it confirmed a new greenfield discovery at
its West Wall copper project in central Chile. It is the first mineral resource estimate
published by Anglo American for West Wall, a 50:50 venture with Xstrata Copper sited 100km
northeast of Santiago.
Meanwhile, housebuilder Bellway bounced back into profit and upped its final dividend as the
housing market stabilised although the shares dived, taking several sector peers down with them,
after it said "buyer confidence slowly ebbed away during the summer" and sales have picked up
only slightly recently.
Finally, real estate investment trust Land Securities has formed a joint venture with the
Canary Wharf Group to develop the so-called “walkie-talkie” property in Fenchurch Street,
London. The existing property, currently a cleared site with some ancillary retail neighbouring
holdings, has been sold by Land Securities to the 50/50 partnership at a price of £90.2m, in
line with the March 2010 valuation.
THE FTSE 100 CLOSED DOWN 38 @ 5703
THE DOW JONES AT 4.30 IS DOWN 96 @ 11,047
THE NASDAQ COMP AT 4.30 IS DOWN 28 @ 2451
Exchange Rates
GBP – USD 1. 574
GBP – EUR 1. 139
??
??
??
??
Researching your Manx family history can be a very interesting and rewarding hobby. Trace your roots in the Isle of Man with our helpful of guide.
