MARKET REPORT FRIDAY 28^TH MARCH 2008

Good Morning,

Yesterday from the UK there were better than expected figures showing the resilience of the UK retailing sector as the CBI distributive trades survey showed a positive reading. We have also seen that UK house prices fell again for the fifth consecutive month according to the Nationwide and according to the survey this leaves the annual rate of house price inflation only 1.1% higher than this time last year and is the weakest annual rate since 1996. Market expectations of the Bank of England making a cut in the interest rates in April are gathering belief with Sterling losing more ground to the surging Euro, trading at 1.2630 levels.

At 9.30 the UK GDP figures will be released which will provide valuable insight into the state of the UK economy and what impact the current financial turbulence has had on growth.

In the US , the market was surprised by stronger than expected growth figures for the 4 th quarter with the market looking for an annualised rate of 2.1% but the actual results were higher at 2.4%

Michael Ince
Senior Trader

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