Hello traders!

In the US, stocks recovered from a major slump in afternoon trading.

The Dow was recently up 4.8 points at 10,935.70, with the S&P500 down 0.58 points at 1,255.57 and the Nasdaq Composite off 10.35 points at 2,141.45.

See you in the morning with updates......

G.

Good morning traders!

Closing figures from the US last night see the Dow closing ahead 7.92 points at 10,938.82 with the Nasdaq off 6.48 points at 2,145.32 and the S&P500 up 1.78 points at 1,257.93.

In Asia today, the Hang Seng finished the morning session up 10.99 points at 15,461.10, while the Nikkei was recently down 3.63 points at 14,629.40.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, was up 20 cents at $70.55 a barrel from its close of $70.35 in the US on Thursday.

Happy Friday!

G.

Extract from Times article today :

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2706-2217603,00.html

................OASIS IS COURTED

Shares in Oasis Healthcare leapt 40 per cent to 24p after the dentist chain said it had received several approaches to buy the company.

Oasis declined to comment further, but City sources said that venture capital firms, including Legal & General Ventures, 3i and HgCapital, were understood to be lining up bids at 30p to 34p a share in what is likely to be a hotly contested auction.............

End-of-day Market Summary

Have a great weekend everyone.

Just time to get some beer out of the cooler and settle down to watch the World Cup extravaganza. :-)

G.