HG.

NIKKEI CLOSES UP 149.59 PTS AT 16,344.20

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Outlook

AFX UK at a glance share guide

LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares are expected to open firmer this morning, continuing yesterday's strength after Wall Street succeeded in reversing a bout of weakness to close higher, dealers said.
According to spreadbettor CMC Markets the FTSE 100 is likely to open up 8 points at 5,632 extending yesterday's 27.4 point gain.

MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,622.8, up 27.4
FTSE 250 8,745.7, down 14.1
DJIA 10,796.26, up 18.49
Nasdaq Comp 2,228.94, up 2.05
S&P 500 1,258.16, up 1.6
Tokyo: Nikkei closed at 16,344.2 up 149.59
Hang Seng midday 15,128.05 up 26.51
Gold 515.6 usd (501.55 usd)
Oil - Brent Feb 57.64 usd (56.29 usd)

TODAY'S PRESS
* Hilton Group was last night putting the finishing touches on the 3.6 bln stg sale of its hotels business to Hilton Hotels Corp of the US in a deal set to be announced today - FT
* Royal Mail expects to lose billions of mail items to its rivals over the next twelve months following the opening up of the market to full competition - FT
* New rules on how US companies account for stock options are set to cause confusion on Wall Street early next year as investors struggle to make sense of the numbers - FT
* Veolia Environnement has hired to find a buyer for its 25 pct stake in Southern Water - FT
* Persimmon is facing a shareholder revolt after the National Association of Pension Funds urged investors to vote against an incentive plan that could net four of the FTSE 100 housebuilders' directors up to 10 mln stg in shares - Times
* Private equity groups Candover and Cinven and trade player Johnston Press are among the half dozen bidders to have made it into the second round of the 1.5 bln stg auction of Daily Mail & General Trust's regional newspapers arm Northcliffe - Independent
* Russian state oil major Rosneft wants to raise up to 20 bln usd when it places shares on the London and Moscow stock markets next year - Independent
* 1.1 bln stg flotation of government-controlled defence research group Qinetiq to go ahead early next year after Treasury officials rubber-stamped the deal - Express

PRESS COMMENT
FT
THE LEX COLUMN comments on Investment Banks (more often having to use their balance sheets to win or retain business)
Express
SHARE WHISPER: TTP COMMUNICATIONS (recent pressure on the shares down to investors betting on its removal from FTSE Small Cap index but Aberforth Partners has lifted stake to 12.59 pct)
Mail
BITS CORPORATION (dealers expect big things next year for the developer of video games software. Has signed 'significant agreement' with Palace Group and Microgaming, the world leader in online casino and poker software)
Times
Directors' dealings: CARDINAL RESOURCES (chairman purchases 125,000 shares at 21.95 pence, with non-exec picking up 75,000 at 26-1/4 pence) - Rumour of the day: NORTHERN PETROLEUM (word is that it is set to exercise options over three further discoveries in the Netherlandss as part of its deal with Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij) - TEMPUS: ASTRAZENECA (chances of mega-merger are low and risk of share-price correction grows - sell), RANK (company has hinted at return of cash to shareholders, but will be March before they discover how much they will get - hold), HOUSE OF FRASER (shares yield more than 5 pct but in current retail climate still look risky - sell)

Good morning all

Morning LW!

Midday Market Summary

Afternoon Andy, its been a while - how are you?

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