Good morning traders!

In Asia, The Hang Seng Index ended the morning down 33.22 points at 15,208.64 with the Nikkei last trading up 48.78 points 13,197.35.

Oil prices were higher in Asian trade as Hurricane Rita pounded the Florida Keys.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery, was up $1.28 at $67.48 a barrel from its close of $66.20 in the US overnight.

Early broker notes :-

BPB CUT TO 'HOLD' VS 'BUY' AT DEUTSCHE BANK

BURREN ENERGY UPGRADED TO 'BUY' VS 'NEUTRAL' AT UBS

There's a loooooong list of ex-dividends today........

Happy trading!

G.

MARKET EXPECTATIONS

* Polaron year to pretax profit 1.3 mln stg vs 1.1 mln; total dividend 1.0-1.2 pence vs 0.3

* Woolworths Group six months to July pretax loss under IFRS 40-42 mln stg vs loss 34.4 mln stg under GAAP

End of day market wrap