End-of-day Market Roundup

Have a good weekend all!

I'll be posting up the Traders Thread for Tuesday on Sunday and taking a day off
Monday.....

G.

Director Dealings - Friday 24 August 2007

Agora S.A. (AGOD)Alliance Trust PLC (ATST)Amtel-Vredestein NV (AMV)Aviva PLC (AV.)BLUEHONE AIM VCT PLC (BLN)Bank of America Corp (BAC)Baronsmead AIMVCTPLC (BAV)Baronsmead AIMVCTPLC (BAV)Baronsmead AIMVCTPLC (BAV)Baronsmead AIMVCTPLC (BAV)Baronsmead AIMVCTPLC (BAV)

Baronsmead AIMVCTPLC (BAV)Barr(A.G.) PLC (BAG)British Airways PLC (BAY)British Energy Group (BGY)ClinPhone Plc (CNP)CybIT Holdings PLC (CYH)Ermitage Money MrktGreencore Group PLC (GNC)INA-Industrija Nafte (HINA)LondonStockExGroup (LSE)Media Corp. (MDC)

Metorex Ld (MTX)Misys (MSY)Old Mutual PLC (OML)Raymarine PLC (RAY)Raymarine PLC (RAY)Raymarine PLC (RAY)Reed Elsevier PLC (REL)Sainsbury(J) PLC (SBRY)Tesco PLC (TSCO)Tomkins PLC (TOMK)Trafalgar Copley Fd

Friday's market reports:

Telegraph
The Times
The Times (Need to know)
FT
The Guardian
The Independent
This is Money

Britain's economy continued to grow healthily in the second quarter of this year, the Office for National Statistics has confirmed, renewing concerns that the Bank of England may yet be forced to raise interest rates despite the recent credit market turmoil.

Economy growth renews speculation of interest rate rise

Full-year earnings forecasts for Britain's banks are set to be downgraded, analysts warned yesterday, as the sector began to try to make sense of the credit crunch and its long-term effects.

City set to slash full-year forecasts for banking sector

Pension fund trustees are planning legal action against several London hedge funds in a desperate bid to salvage investments threatened by the recent credit crunch. Investors in one London-based hedge fund last week asked lawyers to prepare an injunction against the fund, which has been selling off assets because it cannot borrow any more money.

Pension funds demand money back

London's banking system is clogged up with a growing backlog of short-term loans estimated to stand at some $25bn (12.4bn).

Although an air of calm has descended on equity markets, the short-term money markets remain chaotic say senior bankers, who warn that the market for asset backed commercial paper (ABCP) - loans that typically last between 60 and 90 days - has ground to a halt.

Loans block up London banking

BOB Baer, the former Middle East CIA operative whose first book about his life inspired the oil-and-espionage thriller Syriana, is working on a new book on Iran, but says he was told by senior intelligence officials that he had better get it published in the next couple of months because things could be about to change.

Baer, in an interview with The Weekend Australian, says his contacts in the administration suggest a strategic airstrike on Iran is a real possibility in the months ahead.

US 'poised to strike Iran'