RAMSEY CROOKALL
EVENING STOCK MARKET REPORT
9th May 2008 

Leading shares remained weaker this afternoon, with Wall Street opening sharply lower.

Insurance giant American International Group was a faller after reporting losses and the need to raise $12.5 billion.
Reports that Citigroup is considering selling $400 billion in non-core assets to restore profit growth further unsettled
investors, and, amid general market gloom, the financial sector was particularly badly affected.

UK financials also suffered.  Aviva fell 17 pence to 630, Friends Provident was off 2.6 at 116.4 and Prudential fell
back 7 to 702.

Banking stocks were also in the doldrums, with HSBC 20-1/2 pence lower at 861, Barclays down 16 pence at 447, Royal Bank
of Scotland off 13-3/4 at 343-1/2, HBOS 14-1/2 weaker at 499 and Lloyds 13 pence lower at 430-3/4.

The heavyweight mining sector was also dragging the index lower, though the picture for metals was mixed. Gold and
platinum was higher, while copper was lower.  Vedanta Resources was 106 lower at 2,391; Xstrata was off 133 at 4,174
and Antofagasta was 25 at 784-1/2.  

Carphone Warehouse was the biggest casualty after announcing that Best Buy is to acquire 50 percent of the group’s
Distribution business for 1.1 billion pounds. The shares were off 20-1/4 at 268-3/4.

With oil prices at yet another record, $126 a barrel, British Airways felt more pain, and was down 9-1/2 at 229. The
company reports full-year results on Friday.

Consumer goods giant Unilever was 21 higher at £17.73, building on a 90 pence gain from Thursday, when its first-quarter
update came in ahead of expectations.

AT THE CLOSE THE FTSE 100 WAS		down   66  @   6204

WALL STREET THE LATEST DOW JONES WAS	down  105  @  12761

THE NASDAQ WAS				down    7  @   2444

and that was today’s Ramsey Crookall & Co market report.