LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares are tipped to start the session firmer, mirroring gains on Wall Street overnight, with the hotel sector in focus amid a trading update from Whitbread and ongoing consolidation hopes, dealers said.
According to spread betting firm CMC, the FTSE 100 index is expected to open about 15 points higher at around 5,536 having closed 13.9 to the good at 5,521.1 yesterday.

MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,521.1, up 13.9
FTSE 250 8,493.3, down 23.6
DJIA 10,883.50, up 59.80
Nasdaq Comp 2,262.59, down 2.41
S&P 500 1,272.75, up 5.30
Tokyo: Nikkei closed at 15,254.44, down 210.14
Hang Seng midday 15,047.79, up 71.53
Gold 511.50 usd (524.70 usd)
Oil - Brent Jan 59.60 usd (59.52 usd)

TODAY'S PRESS
* Retailers reel at online surge; supermarkets stop taking Christmas orders; stores admit shoppers have been complaining; boom in grocery sales mirrors wider trend - FT
* Swiss Re puts Fox-Pitt Kelton, the boutique investment bank specialising in financial services, up for sale with a price tag likely to value the business at about 100 mln stg
* FLYBE, the UK regional low-fares airline, appoints Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein as adviser to lead a possible flotation that would value the carrier at 150-200 mln stg - FT
* Boeing scores an important victory over Airbus by winning a fiercely contested order from Qantas for up to 115 of its mid-sized, long range 787 Dreamliners - FT
* BAE SYSTEMS biggest winner in 3.6 bln stg ships programme Times
* DE VERE believed to have rejected a takeover approach at 750 pence a share from an unnamed private equity group - FT
* PILKINGTON may end Nippon Sheet Glass talks - Telegraph

PRESS COMMENT
FT
THE LEX COLUMN coments on GUS (multiple paid (for PriceGrabber.com) adds to the pressure for a US listing, where a higher rating for Experian is more likely), European mortgages (UK mortgage loan securitisation market may not sound sexy but it is attracting suitors), Tankan (Tankan, Japan's closely watched barometer of business confidence, was surprisingly muted), Bouygues (there is some upside left), VNU (a bid would provide a clean exit for the activists who opposed the IMS deal and who would struggle to sell their large stakes in the open market)
Express
DE VERE (speculation suggests that WHITBREAD could be interested at about the 750 pence-a-share level) - SHARE WHISPER: ZOO DIGITAL (it recently signed a DVD technology contract with Walt Disney Pictures and it is believed a more lucrative deal is on the cards)
Times
Directors' dealings: MITIE GROUP (two directors sell shares for a combined 467,500 stg) - NEW MEDIA SPARK (word it is close to making a disposal from its portfolio at a significant premium to its book value) - TEMPUS: RHM (hold), YULE CATTO (hold), SONDEX (buy)
Telegraph
QUESTOR: HAYS (hold), RHM (worth holding for the dividend), HOUSE OF FRASER (sell)
Independent
THE INVESTMENT COLUMN: YULE CATTO (hold at best), BAGGERIDGE BRICK (hold on), JOHN MENZIES (best avoided, at least until after the OFT report)

morning all

Good morning all

so hows the trading going MB? "The good & the bad!?"

lw,very hard trading 1st part of the week but made up for it last night on spx ukx.

R u well

Mega...

Morning All.

yes, I'm well but very busy - not doing much investing (can't really call it trading!) LOL

Midday Market Summary

BUR taking a battering today I see.

End-of-day Market Summary>