THE HSBC Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for China, which was released yesterday and measures sentiment for manufacturing and economic activity as a whole, rose to its highest level since February.

The FTSE 100 Index enjoyed a moment’s respite from the positive news with the benchmark index opening up 0.2% from Monday’s level of 5533.

Investor sentiment shortly changed however, as pessimism grew over the likelihood of the Eurozone being able to solve the ongoing crisis.

The FTSE 100 Index failed to maintain the positive momentum, and once the US retail figures were published, which came in lower than expected, the FTSE 100 Index finally finished the day down by 34 points at 5499.

The best stock performer was Croda International, which closed up 6% at 2364p following robust first half results. Croda topped the leader board following its second quarter results that were ahead of consensus expectations. Pretax profit was estimated at £66m and came in a £67.5m.

For the second day in a row, despite continuing to make the headlines for all the wrong reasons, G4S closed up by 1.2% at 244p.

Investors responded positively to Rolls Royce’s announcement that it has signed a contract with shipowner, Fjord Line to, install Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) based power and propulsion systems in two cruise ferries, which are being built in Norway. Rolls Royce closed up 6p at 841p.

Finally, the local car retailing company, Vertu Motors, announced that trading in the four months to June 30, was ahead of the previous year. Total revenue during the period increased by 11.6%. Their current trading is in line with market expectations. The share priced ended 1.82% higher at 28p.

vicky.casebourne@brewin.co.uk