Hello traders,

Approaching the close on Wall Street, stocks have pushed higher as crude-oil prices pulled back from record highs and American International Group rallied on the possibility the insurer's troubles 'ultimately' could be resolved.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was last up 34 points to 10,438 after falling as low as 10,356 in early dealings. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 8 points to 1,993 and the S&P500 added 5 points at 1,177.

Not too much in the way of reporting in London in the morning but enough rumour rumbling around to keep things hopping.

See you later with the breaking news.........

G.

Good morning traders!

In the US last night, late-day profit taking in oil prices, coupled with some upbeat corporate news, was enough to reverse early nervousness and close the indices to the upside.

Crude oil futures closed at $57.01/bbl, having touched an all-time high above $58/bbl.

The Dow closed up 16.84 points at 10,421.14 with the Nasdaq Composite 6.26 points ahead at 1,991.07 and the S&P500 3.20 points higher at 1,176.12.

In Tokyo this morning, the Nikkei is trading well ahead as oil prices ease further. The Hong Kong market is closed.

Back with some UK news momentarily.....

Happy trading!

G.

The FTSE 100 is expected to start the session in positive territory after US markets closed higher as oil prices pulled back from record highs, said dealers.
IG Index is indicating a 17-point gain in the FTSE 100 at the open of trade, after the blue chip index closed down 17.3 points last night at 4,896.7.
US stocks closed in the black as crude prices pulled back from earlier highs and American International Group rallied on the possibility that the insurer's troubles could be resolved.
The DJIA closed up 16.84 points at 10,421.14 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 6.26 points to 1,991.07.
Over in Asia, the Nikkei 225 ended the morning up 77.57 points at 11,745.11, while the Hong Kong markets were closed for the day.
Meanwhile, oil prices eased further in Asian trading after the OPEC cartel announced it had begun consultations to consider raising output by 500,000 barrels per day.
At 5.45 am, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for May delivery dropped 26 cents to 56.75 usd a barrel from 57.01 usd in New York overnight where it had finished 26 cents weaker.
Back in London, airlines will be in focus this morning, as both British Airways and Ryanair release traffic figures for March. The Times noted that BA said in February that market conditions were broadly unchanged.
The FT also reported today that the global airline industry could lose 2.9 bln stg in 2005 because of continuing high crude oil prices, citing a warning buy the International Air Transport Association.
Also today, Whatman will release full-year results. Baird Equities is looking for pretax profits of 16.1 mln stg, up from 13.9 mln. A 4.5 pence dividend total, up from 4.3, would be covered by EPS of 15.2 pence against 7.5.
In other headlines this morning, Morgan Stanley announced last night that it will pursue a spin-off of its Discover Financial Services unit. The division, which includes the Discover credit card, is among the largest credit-card issuers in the US with more than 50 mln card members.
The Times noted this morning that both HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland are among those trying to increase their share of the US market.
On the broker front, traders said Goldman has reportedly downgraded Allied Domecq to 'in-line' from 'outperform'.
Finally, in economic news, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply gauge of service service sector activity is due for release and is expected to dip to 55.0 in March from 55.1 the previous month.

ALLIED DOMECQ DOWNGRADED TO 'IN-LINE' FROM 'OUTPERFORM' AT GOLDMAN SACHS

EMI UPGRADED TO 'BUY' FROM 'HOLD' BY DEUTSCHE BANK

ICI UPGRADED TO 'OVERWEIGHT' FROM 'EQUAL-WEIGHT' BY LEHMAN BROTHERS

ICI upgraded to 'overweight' by Morgan Stanley, new target 310p

MARKETS
FTSE 100 4,896.7, down 17.3
FTSE 250 7,136.0, down 44.6
DJIA 10,421.10, up 16.80
Nasdaq Comp 1,991.07, up 6.26
S&P 500 1,176.10, up 3.20
Tokyo: Nikkei closed at 11,774.31 up 106.77
Hang Seng closed
Gold 426.25 usd (425.65 usd)
Oil - Brent May 56.23 usd (56.51 usd)

BREAKING NEWS
* May 5 poll gain for Tories; survey shows Conservatives have lead among those sure to vote; Blair to name election date today; PM's rating ahead of Howard's - FT
* High oil prices will spark airline losses of 5.5 bln usd this year, warns IATA chief - FT
* ChevronTexaco buys Unocal for 18 bln usd
* Commercial production starts at the UK's first large biodiesel plant at Motherwell, Scotland, making "green" fuel from animal fat and used cooking oil - FT
* Morgan Stanley's share price rises sharply on reports that the board has agreed to divest its Discover credit card business amid mounting criticism of Philip Purcell, the bank's chairman and chief executive - FT
* Classic Media and Thomas H Lee emerge as possible rival bidders for HIT ENTERTAINMENT following an agreed bid by Apax
* Iron ore miner BHP BILLITON locked in a pricing stand-off with Japanese and Chinese steel mills - FT
* Chinese step on brakes in Rover talks; troubled carmaker's hopes of life-saving deal with Shanghai company ride on 100 mln stg loan from the government - Telegraph

PRESS COMMENT
FT
THE LEX COLUMN comments on ChevronTexaco's acquisition of Unocal, Eurozone growth, BP (isn't cheap, but the scale and diversity of BP's asset portfolio and its track record on acquisitions and share buybacks justify a premium), Telecom Italia
Independent
THE INVESTMENT COLUMN: SEVERN TRENT (buy), DAT GROUP (buy), BURREN ENERGY (buy) - EXEL (boosted by talk of Deutsche Post approach)
Guardian
CYBIT (likely to make positive noises about the market)
Mail
INVU (expect full-year figures to make pleasant reading)
Telegraph
QUESTOR: WOLVERHAMPTON & DUDLEY BREWERIES (worth a look), COSTAIN (buy), ALEXON (avoid)
Times
DIRECTORS' DEALINGS: SMITH & NEPHEW (deputy chairman picks up 100,000 stg of shares) - TEMPUS: CREST NICHOLSON (buy), DAIRY CREST (worth buying), ALEXON (avoid)
Express
SHARE WHISPER: MJ GLEESON (rumours of stakebuilding; gossips believe this could be the prelude to a possible bid) - WHO'S DEALINGS: SMITH & NEPHEW (deputy chairman picks up 20,000 shares at 499 pence)

GOod Morning all

Morning all.