RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

MIDDAY MARKET REPORT

7th JUNE 2010

London has started the week on the back foot after Friday’s worrying US jobs figures and the statement the same day by Peter Szijjarto, spokesman for Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, that the country may default on its sovereign debt repayment.

Hungarian Economics Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy has been engaged in a damage limitation exercise in the wake of Friday’s inflammatory comments, stressing that the country is not in as bad a state as Greece.

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has now cost BP a staggering $1.25 billion and is expected to keep rising for many months to come. The latest attempt to stop the leak is only capturing half the oil, but that is a lot more than last week. BP shares are up 12p at 445p.

Life insurer Prudential shares fall 6p to 550p as it moved to nip in the bud any rebellions at its AGM today by revealing strong trading figures for April and May. Sales for the first five months of 2010 rose 27% to ?1.37 billion, with Asia and the US the main drivers.

Oil engineering services provider Lamprell said performance has been in line with expectations and continues to see high levels of enquiries for services in most sectors. Efforts to diversify the scope of our operating markets is beginning to bear fruit, as evidenced by the contracts wins so far, in 2010. The shares are down 6p at 210p.

In the UK, there are additional concerns that George Osborne, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, is planning to press ahead with plans for a levy on UK-based banks, even though the rest of the finance ministers at the G20 summit dropped the plan. Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Barclays are all slightly lower, but HSBC defies the trend. The bank announced today that it would take up its full entitlement of the rights issue announced by the Bank of Communications.

THE FTSE 100 AT 12.15 IS DOWN 18 @ 5107

THE DOW JONES CLOSED DOWN 323 @ 9921 THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED DOWN 83 @ 2219

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1. 45

GBP – EUR 1. 21