Good morning traders!

A bullish end to US trading last night saw the Dow close up 53.95 at 10,820.28 with the Nasdaq 14.60 ahead at 2,241.67 and the S&P500 6.58 better at 1,254.85.

In Asia today, the Hang Seng ended the morning down 53.52 points at 14,832.05 while the Nikkei was up 27.89 points at 14,708.32 at the close.

Oil prices were higher in Asian trading on expectations of stronger demand for heating oil as temperatures drop in the northern hemisphere. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January rose 12 cents to $57.82 a barrel from its close of $57.70 in US trading overnight.

Early broker notes:

COMPUTACENTER UPGRADED TO 'NEUTRAL' VS 'SELL' AT MERRILL LYNCH
KAZAKHMYS INITIATED 'OUTPERFORM' AT CSFB; PRICE TARGET 750P
DE LA RUE CUT TO 'NEUTRAL' VS 'BUY' AT MERRILL LYNCH

Happy trading!

G.

MARKET EXPECATIONS
* easyJet year to September pretax profit 63 mln stg vs 62.2 mln
* Enterprise Inns year to September pretax profit before exceptionals 300 mln
stg vs 231.2 mln, final div 12 pence
* InterContinental Hotels Group third quarter to September. Williams de Broe
forecasts pretax profit before exceptionals 95 mln stg vs 97 mln
* SSL International. House broker CSFB forecasts six months to September
pretax profit 22 mln stg vs 17 mln

Outlook

AFX UK at a glance share guide

LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares are expected to open higher this morning, taking heart from another positive close by Wall Street last night, although rising oil prices could limit gains early on, dealers said.
According to spread-betting firm IG Index, the FTSE 100 index is expected to start around 10 points higher, after closing at 5,497.9 yesterday.

MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,497.9, down 1.0
FTSE 250 8,229.2, up 45.3
DJIA 10,820.30, up 54.00
Nasdaq Comp 2,241.67, up 14.60
S&P 500 1,254.85, up 7.60
Tokyo: Nikkei closed at 14,708.32, up 27.89
Hang Seng midday 14,832.05, down 53.52
Gold 488.00 usd (487.30 usd)
Oil - Brent Jan 55.33 usd (54.88 usd)

TODAY'S PRESS
* GM axe is to fall on 30,000; US group hopes to save 7 bln usd a year through radical restructuring; cuts could hand world's biggest carmaker title to rival Toyota - FT
* Britain may need dedicated rail lines to carry freight because of the volume of imported coal going by train, says a Network Rail executive - FT
* Gazprombank, Russia's third largest bank, looking to sell more than 30 pct of its shares to a strategic foreign investor next year as the first step towards an initial public offering in 2007 - FT
* The Sainsbury family's holding in the supermarket group could dip below 30 pct after a blind trust announced it might sell up to 20 mln shares on behalf of junior trade minister Lord Sainsbury - FT

PRESS COMMENT
FT
THE LEX COLUMN comments on GLAXOSMITHKLINE (pitfalls of regulatory approval are a reminder for investors to curb their enthusiasm, not to abandon the stock entirely), Sterling (the pound's fundamental woes could be compounded if the greenback renews its decline in 2006), UK gas prices (for all the fascination with the weather, the longer-term supply dynamics are much more interesting), CADBURY SCHWEPPES (shrinking Cadbury further might make it an even more attractive target for US rivals, such as Kraft Foods; however, investors in Cadbury should know better than most that such deals rarely happen overnight), General Motors (it is struggling to hold the line on its new marketing strategy; and the threat of a Delphi strike remains), TDC (for TDC shareholders at least, the deal looks reassuringly expensive)
Times
Directors' dealings: DOBBIES GARDEN CENTRES (director sells stock for 278,750 stg) - Rumour of the day: TESCO (said to be considering taking a 49 pct stake in Meijer, an American supermarket, in a deal that could be worth 2.5 bln stg) - TEMPUS: GLAXOSMITHKLINE (buy), COMPUTACENTER (with the buyout team holding 44 pct of the stock, the chances of HSBC stirring up an auction for the business are slim), THUS (avoid for now)
Independent
THE INVESTMENT COLUMN: WORKSPACE (hold), FUTURA (buy)
Express
SHARE WHISPER: ORCA INTERACTIVE (takeover speculation)
Mail
MINOAN (word is that director Graham Cook is about to buy a shed load ahead of its promotion to AIM next month)
Telegraph
QUESTOR: CADBURY SCHWEPPES (worth holding on to), WORKSPACE (hold at these levels), CARE UK (buy)

Good morning all.

Good Morning all

End-of-day Market Summary