In Asia today, the Hang Seng ended the morning up 27.36 points at 24,337.50,
while the Nikkei was recently up 28.49 points at 15,826.09.
Crude oil for October delivery fell as much as 23 cents to $79.68 a barrel
Thursday. The contract finished $1.68 higher at $79.91 on the New York
Mercantile Exchange Wednesday, after climbing to $80.05 a barrel earlier in the
regular trading session.