Good morning traders!

In a cagey session in New York last night, the Dow fell 33.22 points to 10,535.48. The Nasdaq Composite rose 3.74 points to 2,155.43, while the S&P500 dropped 2.11 points to 1,226.70.

In Asia this morning, the Hang Seng ended the first half up 62.41 points at 15,456.80, while the Nikkei reached midday up 124.56 points ahead at 13,649.84.

Oil prices retreated in Asian trade on speculation the US would release its emergency stockpiles to cover production lost in the aftermath of the recent hurricanes. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery, was down 18 cents at $65.29 a barrel from its close of $65.47 in US trading overnight.

Early broker notes:

MFI CUT TO 'SELL' VS 'HOLD' AT DEUTSCHE BANK
SHANKS DOWNGRADED TO 'ADD' VS 'BUY' AT ABN AMRO
MCBRIDE INITIATED 'UNDERPERFORM' AT GOLDMAN SACHS, FAIR VALUE 227P
REXAM DOWNGRADED TO 'HOLD' VS 'BUY' AT CITIGROUP
ANGLO AMERICAN INITIATED 'OVERWEIGHT' AT HSBC; PRICE TARGET 1850P
SMITHS GROUP DOWNGRADED TO 'NEUTRAL' VS 'BUY' AT UBS

Happy trading!

G.

ADC flog 4 buses Is this kind of thing worthy of an RNS?

DMP - not for widows and orphans this one ;-)

QTI make second deal in a month

CZT - no widows, only orphans

FDL showing signs of the times - not clever?

SFX placing at discount

AFO - another PGM hunter - based in British Virgin Islands. Hmmmmm!

CHT contract wins

http://www.companyannouncements.net/cgi-bin/articles/200510040700091405S.html>ARU - no change in bad news

RBI looking at lift-off? ;-))

PTL not in breach of banking covenants - oh, that's alright then. ;-)

OMH get FDA approval

PFC listing today - interesting outfit

AIE AGM statement sounds like a P/W to me

VTI get new CEO

Have fun!

Morning all.

End of day market summary