In the US tonight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average recently advanced 90 points to 12,643. The S&P 500 gained 9 points to 1,442, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 6.3 points to 2,456.
In Asia today, the Nikkei closed up 131.19 points at 17,752.64, while the Hang Seng ended the morning up 85.34 points at 20,217.59.
New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, was 19 cents lower at $58.87 a barrel from $59.06 in late US trades overnight.
ANTO downgraded to neutral from outperform - Credit Suisse
BIFF initiated at equal-weight - Morgan Stanley
HBR initiated at buy - target 875 - Citigroup
LMR initiated at buy - target 860 - Dresdner Kleinwort
WD. initiated at add - target 310 - ABN Amro