RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO MIDDAY MARKET REPORT

28th May 2010

After two days of scintillating gains London is advancing in a more sedate fashion today with retail and leisure stocks leading the way.

Despite disappointing consumer confidence data, which showed UK customers are less confident about the year ahead than they were a month ago, retailers such as Next, Marks & Spencer and Kingfisher are on the up.

Royal Dutch Shell has joined the rush to snap up US shale gas assets with the $4.7 billion purchase of East Resources which operates in the north east of the US.

Water group Severn Trent lifted its full year dividend by 7.4% after an increase in revenues and cost cutting measures brought about by a sharp rise in profits. The shares are up 29p at ?11.88.

BP, down 22p at 498p, says it won’t know if the ‘top kill’ procedure to plug the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico has worked for another 24 to 48 hours, but in the meantime the costs keep rising, up to $930 million so far.

Life group Prudential this morning confirmed it has had talks over the terms of the purchase of AIG’s Asian arm (AIA) trying to reduce the price from $35.5 billion to $30 billion to head off a shareholder revolt that could scupper the deal completely. The shares are down 7p at 540p.

Internet gambling group 888 has warned that full year profit is likely to be significantly lower than previous market expectations due to ongoing weakness at the online poker business and the strong dollar. The shares are down 10p at 58p

World Markets

THE FTSE 100 AT 12.15 IS UP 30 @ 5224

THE DOW JONES CLOSED UP 284 @ 10,258

THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED UP 81 @ 2277

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1. 456

GBP – EUR 1. 175