BP UPGRADED TO 'BUY' FROM 'NEUTRAL' AT UBS

RIO TINTO, BHP BILLITON UPGRADED TO 'BUY' FROM 'NEUTRAL' AT UBS

LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares are expected to start the session lower, hit by a weak showing on Wall Street and the latest spike in oil prices, and as investors brace themselves ahead of earnings news from retailers Next and Kingfisher, dealers said.
According to CMC group, the FTSE 100 will open down 7 points at around 5,340 after the index closed yesterday 9.4 points to the good at 5,347.4.

MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,347.4, up 9.4
FTSE 250 7,863.1, up 29.8
DJIA 10,544.90, down 52.50
Nasdaq Comp 2,149.33, down 22.42
S&P 500 1,227.15, down 4.05
Tokyo: Nikkei closed at 12,986.78, up 152.43
Hang Seng midday 15,067.14, down 19.48
Gold 448.25 usd (446.55 usd)
Oil - Brent Oct 63.37 usd (61.61 usd)

TODAY'S PRESS
* Britain's biggest arms firm, BAE SYSTEMS, identified on US banking records as secretly paying more than 1 mln stg to General Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator - Guardian
* Adair Turner to tackle high charges on pensions; national pension plan would help low-earners - FT
* US airlines set for shake-up as Delta and Northwest file for bankruptcy - FT
* Syndicates can survive Katrina, says Lloyd's - FT
* Katrina to drive rig cover costs up by 50 pct - Times
* Novartis may raise 168 mln stg from sale of food unit - Times

PRESS COMMENT
FT
THE LEX COLUMN comments on Competition report on store cards (may prove to be just another small nail in a pre-prepared store card coffin), Global oil (power is shifting back towards governments that hold what matters: oil and gas), BPB (in the last five years, successful UK hostile bids have required an average premium of 52 pct - suggesting a bid of 779 pence for BPB, where shareholder, if not management, resistance might crumble), European online telephony (internet telephony is less threatening to incumbent European telecoms operators than feared) - PROVIDENT FINANCIAL (trades on a similar earnings multiple to rival CATTLES at about 11.5, but the latter is expected to see good profit growth this year) - INDEPENDENT NEWS & MEDIA (attractive) - SIG (in line with the sector; this seems unfair given the growth prospects)
Mail
COLLINS STEWART TULLETT (rumours persist Lehman Bros is the bidder and will roll out a 650 pence-a-share cash offer on Monday)
Express
SHARE WHISPER: MFI (rehashed bid speculation) - WHO'S DEALING: ADVANCED POWER COMPONENTS (chief operating officer buys 84,000 shares at 6 pence)
Times
RUMOUR OF THE DAY: BOND INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE (word of a contract win from an American healthcare staffing company) - DIRECTORS' DEALINGS: MONSTERMOB (two top directors sell 2.4 mln stg of stock) - TEMPUS: PROVIDENT FINANCIAL 5.5 pct dividend yield provides compensation for holding on to shares in this bruised, as opposed to, rotten egg), SIG (buy), CAFFE NERO (keep buying)
Guardian
WHITBREAD (rumours of a break-up) - COMPUTACENTER (analysts draw attention to its strong balance sheet)
Telegraph
QUESTOR: PROVIDENT FINANCIAL (steer well clear), XAAR (should be some limited upside from here), SIG (hold on)
Independent
THE INVESTMENT COLUMN: TULLOW OIL (sell), SIG (buy), ISLAMIC BANK OF BRITAIN (avoid) - BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO (hopes that a large part of the legal liabilities facing it will soon be dismissed)



TRADING STATEMENT
Luminar

ALSO EXPECTED
Smith & Nephew Research & Development day

ECONOMICS
* UK Aug retail sales (0830 GMT)

MARKET EXPECTATIONS
* Brandon Hire. Baird Equities forecasts six months to June pretax profit 1.8 mln stg vs 2.2 mln; interim dividend 1.6 pence vs 1.5.
* CODASciSys. Baird Equities forecasts six months to June pretax profit 4.2 mln stg vs 3.7 mln; interim dividend 1.4 pence vs 1.3
* Huntleigh Technology. Baird Equities forecasts six months to June pretax profit 13.7 mln stg vs 14.5 mln; interim dividend 3.34 pence vs 3.30
* Kingfisher six months to July pretax profit under IFRS 250-265 mln stg vs
165 mln
* Next six months to July pretax profit 161 mln stg vs 165 mln
* Premier Oil. Williams de Broe forecast six months to June net income 30
mln usd vs 12.8 mln

PCM - strange goings on

QTI - amazing what some outfits do and get up to. ;-)

SPI tying up with BAA

OHM in dispute with Statoil - they might be done for?

BDI do US deal

LMR pre-close not overly bullish - lfl "neutral", trade "challenging"

DNX full of good news

RPT are brilliant! - noting the recent share price movment is not hard with this lot. LOL

MCCE is another biofuel outfit eh? Investigation required methinks

IEN bounced recently

AGK and Katrina

CSR nice update

888 Holdings for 162p - 212p

RGO trading update - AHEAD! Let's see if it can hold onto the early rise today. ;-))

ABG interims - not sure why they're doing badly in the North Sea

PMO interims - wonder if it'll undo Tuesday's falls

Have fun!

End of day market wrap