Hello traders!

In the US tonight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 68 points to 12,552,
while the S&P 500 gained 8.9 points to 1,447. The Nasdaq Composite rose 21
points to 2,480.

See you in the morning with the latest.........

G.

Director Dealings - Thursday 12 April, 2007

Alliance Trust PLC (ATST)Alliance Trust PLC (ATST)Anglo American PLC (AAL)Aviva PLC (AV.)BATM Advanced Comm (BVC)BLUEHONE AIM VCT PLC (BLN)BRIT Ins Hldgs (BRE)BRIT Ins Hldgs (BRE)Barr(A.G.) PLC (BAG)Barr(A.G.) PLC (BAG)Barr(A.G.) PLC (BAG)Barr(A.G.) PLC (BAG)Barr(A.G.) PLC (BAG)Blue Oar PLC (BLUE)Bovis Homes Group (BVS)CRH PLC (CRH)Cadbury Schweppes (CBRY)Carillion PLC (CLLN)Catlin Group Limited (CGL)Centrica PLC (CNA)Charles Taylor Cons (CTR)

Cheerful Scout PLC (CLS)Corac Group Plc (CRA)Dignity PLC (DTY)Domestic & General (DGG)Games Workshop Group (GAW)Gleeson (M J) Group (GLE)Go-Ahead Group PLC (GOG)Hays PLC (HAS)Henderson Eurotrust (HNE)IMI PLC (IMI)Imp. Chemical Inds. (ICI)Legal & General Grp (LGEN)Legal & General Grp (LGEN)Legal & General Grp (LGEN)Liberty Intl PLC (LII)Liberty Intl PLC (LII)Lincat Group PLC (LCT)Lincat Group PLC (LCT)Lincat Group PLC (LCT)Michael Page Intl (MPI)Mitchells & Butlers (MAB)

National Express (NEX)Panmure Gord &Co plc (PMR)Primary Health Props (PHP)Prudential PLC (PRU)Prudential PLC (PRU)QinetiQ Group plc (QQ.)RPS Group PLC (RPS)Resolution PLC (RSL)Rolls-Royce Grp Plc (RR.)Savills PLC (SVS)Scottish Power PLC (SPW)Scottish Power PLC (SPW)Statpro Group PLC (SOG)Throgmorton Tst PLC (THRG)TripleArc (TPA)United BusinessMedia (UBM)Venue Solutions PLC (VSH)WSP Group PLC (WSH)Wood Group (John)PLC (WG.)Xansa PLC (XAN)

Morning all. Market reports:

Telegraph
Telegraph (Bloomberg summary)
The Times
FT
The Guardian
The Independent
This is Money

The investigation of a Japanese housewife who made 400 million yen (1.7 million) day-trading on foreign exchange markets has exposed a potentially massive tax evasion scam by retail currency investors.

Japanese housewife nets 1.7m betting on currency markets

A cigar-chomping Mexican telecoms tycoon, Carlos Slim, has quietly slipped past Warren Buffett to become the world's second richest man with a fortune of $53.1bn (26.8bn) - equivalent to roughly 7% of his country's annual economic output.

Mexican leapfrogs Buffett and eyes No 1 spot

A Texan energy trader who emerged from Enron's ashes, John Arnold, has been crowned as the new king of the hedge fund world with personal earnings of close to 1bn last year after a spectacularly successful bet on the direction of natural gas prices.

American hedge fund trader shrugs off Enron scandal to earn 2.7m a day

The former Williams de Brofinance director David Whistance was yesterday fined 30,000 by the City watchdog for "failing to exercise due skill care and diligence in carrying out his role" when the business came close to insolvency.

Ex-Williams de Brofinance director fined 30,000 by FSA

NIKKEI	AUSTRALIA	SHANGHAI	HANG SENG

Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Hang Seng ended the morning down 50.50 points at 20,329.71,
while the Nikkei reached the midpoint up 24.75 points at 17,565.17.

New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, was up
19 cents at $64.04 per barrel after surging $1.84 to $63.85 in US trading overnight.

Happy Friday!

G.

Asian markets summary

Asian economic and corporate news summary

BRBY reiterated buy - target 780 from 720 - Citigroup
MOSB reiterated hold - target 70 - Numis
PSON reiterated underweight - target 820 - JP Morgan
SAB reiterated hold - target 1200 - Deutsche Bank
SAB reiterated overweight - target 1230 - Morgan Stanley
SBRY reiterated hold - target 525 from 510 - Deutsche Bank
VOD reiterated buy - target 200 - Dresdner Kleinwort

London shares outlook - higher with M&A activity likely to be focusThe Friday Press Roundup

TSCO reiterated buy - target 550 - UBS

Tokyo shares close lower on caution before earnings season, G7 meeting - UPDATEAustralian shares close lower on profit-taking, interest rate concerns - UPDATE

UK smallcap opening - Media Corp lower after downbeat trading statement

STOCKWATCH AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline gains as US peer Merck ups guidance

UK smallcap opening - ScS Upholstery runs back on disappointing updateUK smallcap opening - Telent drops on disposal news

UK smallcap opening - Romag Holdings rises on Investors Chronicle 'buy' adviceUK smallcap opening - Galleon Holdings better after update

STOCKWATCH Countrywide down on profit-taking after Apollo offer increaseLondon shares open higher after Wall Street gains overnight; commodity stocks up

UK smallcap opening - KSK Power higher after positive trading statement

STOCKWATCH Barclays up on talk of JP Morgan bid, rumours will ditch ABN bid

Metals - LME inventory data (Friday)UK small caps open lower with ScS Upholstery hit by disappointing updateLondon shares open higher after Wall Street gains; commodity stocks up UPDATE

STOCKWATCH Barclays up on talk of JP Morgan bid; rumoured ABN talk exit UPDATE