RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO MIDDAY MARKET REPORT

27th May 2010

Shares in London are enjoying a strong run and sentiment has been boosted by China’s denial that it is cutting its holdings of euro sovereign debt.

Insurers Aviva and Prudential, and mining stocks BHP Billiton, Vedanta Resources and Rio Tinto are among the top risers on the leaderboard.

Hedge fund manager Man Group, up 16p at 231p has confirmed plans to halve the dividend for the current financial year after reporting a 27% slump in profit for the year just ended.

Shares in BP are up 17p at 509p after it confirmed this morning that ‘top kill’ operations at its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico began last night and are ongoing. It should take two days to complete operations.

Military researcher QinetiQ has posted a pretax annual loss and suspended its dividend for twelve months after a ‘difficult’ year. The group will undertake a two year restructuring programme. The shares are up 15p at 131p.

Sportswear retailer JJB Sports, down a penny at 19p said like for like sales revenue in the first quarter was 7.5% higher than last year. John Clare, who has been the interim chairman since David Jones stepped down in January, will assume the role permanently, effective immediately.

World Markets

THE FTSE 100 AT 12.15 IS UP 90 @ 5128

THE DOW JONES CLOSED DOWN 69 @ 9974

THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED DOWN 15 @ 2195



Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1. 457

GBP – EUR 1. 184