Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the Dow rose 96 points to 15,509, the Nasdaq gained 22 points at
3,929 and the S&P500 added 6 points at 1,752.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was recently down 342 points at 14,144 and the Hang Seng
122 points lower at 22,714.

WTI crude oil traded at $97.11 a barrel and Brent crude at $106.99.

Gold settled at $1,350 an ounce.

Happy Friday!

G.

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FTSE / DOW

Samsung profit rises 26% on smartphone boost

Samsung Electronics has reported a 26% jump in profit in the third quarter driven by strong smartphone sales and a recovery in its memory chip business.

It made a net profit of 8.24 trillion won ($7.6bn; £4.7bn) in the July-to-September quarter, up from 6.56tn won during the same period a year earlier.

Operating profit rose to a record 10.2 trillion won during the quarter.

The firm said sales of smartphones, a key driver of its growth, are expected to rise further in coming months.

It said that sales "will gain momentum due to year-end promotions over the holiday season and an improved line-up of mass-market smartphones".

Samsung sees $1.4 billion dividend payment from Corning deal

SEOUL | Fri Oct 25, 2013 3:18am BST
(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co (005930.KS) said on Friday it expected an additional 1.5 trillion won ($1.4 billion) payment from Corning Inc (GLW.N) after the U.S. firm agreed to buy the South Korean firm's display unit out of an LCD glass venture.

"On top of the already announced detail that Corning will buy out (Samsung Display's) stake in the glass venture, there'll be additional payment of dividend, which we estimate at around 1.5 trillion won," Robert Yi, head of Samsung Electronics investor relations, told analysts. ($1 = 1061.0500 Korean won)

Morning All.

Microsoft, Amazon shares surge on earnings

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Shares of Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. surged in the extended session late Thursday after both companies reported better-than-expected results for the third quarter.

Microsoft MSFT +5.28% shares rallied 4.7% to $35.32 on heavy volume after the company posted fiscal first-quarter earnings of 62 cents a share on revenue of $18.53 billion, compared with the consensus estimate of 54 cents a share on $17.8 billion in revenue.

Amazon AMZN +8.22% shares jumped 8% to $358.90 on heavy volume after the e-commerce giant reported a net loss in line with consensus estimates but revenue topped Wall Street expectations.

Nikkei tumbles 2.8 pct On China fears, biggest one-day fall since early Aug

Fri Oct 25, 2013 7:39am BST
TOKYO, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average
suffered the biggest one-day loss in 2-1/2 months on Friday,
hit by yen's strength against the dollar and as fears grew that
tight credit conditions in China could put the brakes on the
world's second-largest economy.

The Nikkei shed 2.8 percent to 14,088.19, its lowest
closing level since Oct. 9. For the week, the benchmark fell 3.3
percent, marking its first weekly fall in three weeks.

The broader Topix dropped 2.1 percent to 1,178.28 in
relatively thin trade, with 2.41 billion shares changing hands.

At one point during the session, the dollar weakened to a
low of 96.94 against the yen.

Opening Market Overview

EUR German Ifo Business Climate 107.4 108.2 107.7

EUR M3 Money Supply y/y 2.1% 2.3% 2.3%

EUR Italian Retail Sales m/m 0.0% 0.2% -0.3%

EUR Private Loans y/y -1.9% -1.9% -2.0%

GBP Prelim GDP q/q 0.8% 0.8% 0.7%

GBP Index of Services 3m/3m 0.6% 0.5% 0.5%

UK economy accelerates to fastest growth since 2010

LONDON | Fri Oct 25, 2013 10:34am BST
(Reuters) - Britain's economy picked up more speed between July and September, growing at its fastest pace in more than three years and building on an unexpected turnaround that has buoyed the government.

Gross domestic product rose by 0.8 percent, faster than the 0.7 percent achieved in the April-June period, Britain's Office for National Statistics said on Friday.

The quarterly growth and the year-on-year rate of 1.5 percent were in line with forecasts by economists in a Reuters poll. The numbers also made Britain, until recently a laggard among the world's rich countries, one of its fastest-growing economies with an annualised growth rate of over 3 percent.

Grangemouth dispute: Ineos says plant will stay open

25 October 2013 Last updated at 11:37

The Grangemouth petrochemical plant near Falkirk is to stay open after a new deal was struck with workers.

Staff were told in a mass meeting at 11:00 that the decision to close the site would be reversed.

End-of-day Market Overview

Have a great weekend all. Keep out of the way of the storms and enjoy your extra
hour in bed.....

G.