Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the Dow rose 136 points to 15,327, the Nasdaq fell 4 points to
3,725 and the S&P500 added 5 points at 1,689.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was recently dowon 16 points at 14,409 and the Hang Seng
ahead 56 points at 22,993.

WTI crude oil traded at $107.56 a barrel and Brent crude at $111.50.

Gold settled at $1,364 an ounce.

Good hunting!

G.

Bloomberg Top Headlines

Marketwatch

Global Markets

Asian Markets News



FTSE Futures Chart

UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Sept. 12

LONDON, Sept 12 | Thu Sep 12, 2013 6:59am BST
(Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening flat on Thursday after rising slightly in the previous session, according to financial bookmakers. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on

* The UK blue chip index closed 4.44 points, or 0.1 percent, higher at 6,588.43 points on Wednesday.

* Outsourcing firm Serco and Kazakh miner ENRC will both leave Britain's top share index, FTSE confirmed on Wednesday, after share price slumps during a year beset with difficulties.

Nikkei falls on stronger yen; Sharp sags on dilution fears

Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:10am BST
By Ayai Tomisawa

TOKYO, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average
dropped in choppy trade on Thursday as the stronger yen hit
exporters, while Sharp Corp tumbled after sources told
Reuters it plans to raise as much as 150 billion yen ($1.5
billion) through a public share offering.

The Nikkei dropped 0.3 percent to 14,387.27 after
briefly entering positive territory earlier. The index has moved
away from a seven-week high of 14,561.46 hit the previous day.
The Topix shed 0.4 percent to 1,184.36.

Europe Factors to Watch-Shares set to rise ahead of output data

Thu Sep 12, 2013 6:27am BST
PARIS, Sept 12 (Reuters) - European stocks are seen inching higher on
Thursday, adding to the week's steep gains as investors bet euro zone industrial
production data due during the session will confirm the region's economic
recovery is on track.

Financial spreadbetters expect Britain's FTSE 100 to open around 2
points higher, or up 0.03 percent, Germany's DAX to open 23 points
higher, or up 0.3 percent, France's CAC 40 to open 7 points higher, or
up 0.2 percent.

European stocks have rallied strongly this week, with the euro zone's
blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index up 2.2 percent and hitting a two-year
high on Wednesday, helped in part by better macroeconomic data.

John Lewis says expects positive second half

LONDON | Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:18am BST
(Reuters) - British retailer John Lewis JLP.UL said on Thursday it expected to trade positively in the second half of the year after posting a 4 percent rise in first-half profit due to a strong performance across the board.

The employee-owned group said underlying pre-tax profit in the six months to July 27 was up 3.9 percent to 115.8 million pounds ($183 million). Group revenue climbed 7.5 percent to 4.2 billion pounds.

Taking into account an exceptional item of 47.3 million pounds following a review of holiday pay policy, which had already been announced, profits were down 38.5 percent.

Apple's shares fall on emerging market concerns

Apple's shares fell more than 5% as investors worried that the firm's latest iPhone models may not help it increase its share in emerging markets.

Royal Mail privatisation 'in the coming weeks'

The government has given formal notice to the stock exchange that it plans to privatise the Royal Mail "in the coming weeks".

It has not decided exactly how much of the service it will sell, but has said it will be the majority.

Employees will be given 10% of the shares, with the rest being offered to institutional investors and members of the public.

The minimum amount members of the public can apply for will be £750.

Morning All,

FTSE100 fractionally higher early on, with retailers mixed

Italian Industrial Production m/m -1.1% 0.3% 0.3%

EUR Industrial Production m/m -1.5% -0.1% 0.7%

GBP 10-y Bond Auction 2.98|1.6 2.58|1.8

Draghi speaks @12:40.

Record number of estate agent workers signals UK house price bubble

A record number of people work in estate agents offices and the sector is growing so fast that it amounted to the fastest growing part of the national workforce in the three months ending in June, according to official figures published on Wednesday.

The Office for National Statistics said that 562,000 people are employed in real estate in the UK, the largest number since records began in 1978, with 77,000 joining the industry over the last year – data that added to fears that the country is heading for a house price bubble.

Weak miners helping to drag FTSE100 lower at midday

EU lawmakers give ECB new powers to supervise euro zone banks

(Reuters) - European lawmakers granted new powers to the European Central Bank on Thursday to supervise up to 6,000 euro zone banks, the first step in building the bloc's flagship banking union.

Lawmakers voted to allow the ECB to become the new banking supervisor from 2014, almost a year after EU governments gave their backing to the plan.

CAD NHPI m/m 0.2% 0.2% 0.2%

USD Unemployment Claims 292K 332K 323K

USD Import Prices m/m 0.0% 0.6% 0.2%

Skin, how does one register for the RM flotation?

Plenty of sites are offering it here is a link to Hargreaves Lansdown and 3I