Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Hang Seng closed its morning session down 13.38 points at 15,208.51 whilst the Nikkei was trading up 9.36 points at 12,609.36 at its midpoint of the day.

Early broker notes :-

THUS UPGRADED TO 'IN-LINE' VS 'UNDERPERFROM' AT GOLDMAN SACHS

RIO TINTO AND BHP BILLITON CUT TO 'HOLD' FROM 'BUY' BY CITIGROUP SMITH BARNEY

XSTRATA UPGRADED TO 'BUY' FROM 'HOLD' BY CITIGROUP SMITH BARNEY

Looks like a busy week ahead...........

Happy trading!

G.

MARKET EXPECTATIONS

William Hill six months to June pretax profit 107.2m vs 118.4m

IMI six months to June pretax profit before exceptionals and goodwill 79m-81m vs 74.4m; interim dividend 6.6p vs 6.3p

Intertek. Baird Equities forecasts six months to June pretax profit 40m vs 37.9m; interim dividend 3.7p, up 10%

Taylor Nelson Sofres six months to June pretax profit under IFRS 32.9m vs 32.4m

Travis Perkins six months to June pretax profit under IFRS 110m-113m vs 95.3m; interim dividend 10.5p vs 9.5p

Vitec Group. Arbuthnot forecasts six months to June pretax profit 7.2m vs 6.8m; interim dividend 5p vs 6.1p

Robert Walters. Baird Equities forecasts six months to June pretax profit 4m vs 3.4m; interim dividend 1.05p, unchanged

Morning all.

Morning all.

End of day market wrap