Hello traders!

A new month and a million new opportunities....

US stocks ended just off session highs tonight, ending the month for equities on a positive note.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 70 points at an unofficial close of 10,482. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 22 points to 2,151 while the S&P500 rose nearly 12 points to 1,220. For the month of August, the Dow industrials and the Nasdaq are down about 1.5%. The S&P 500 is down about 1.1%.

The human cost of Katrina continues to grow........

See you in the morning with updates.

G.

Good morning traders!

In Asia, the Hang Seng ended the morning up 167.78 points at 15,071.33 with the Nikkei recently trading up 111.08 points at 12,524.68.

Oil prices fell further in Asian trading following the US government's decision to open its emergency oil reserves to replenish Gulf Coast refinery operations devastated by Hurricane Katrina. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October dropped 35 cents to $68.59 a barrel from its close of $68.94 in the US overnight where it had finished 87 cents down.

Some early broker notes.......

MATALAN CUT TO 'UNDERPERFORM' VS 'IN-LINE' AT GOLDMAN SACHS

WEIR GROUP UPGRADED TO 'HOLD' VS 'SELL' AT DEUTSCHE BANK

Happy trading!

G.

AFX UK at a glance share guide

LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares are expected to open higher this morning, encouraged by last night's firm performance by Wall Street, where a pullback in oil prices lifted sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic. Escalating damages and a rising death toll from Hurricane Katrina could limit gains, however, dealers said.
According to spread-betting firm IG Index, the FTSE 100 index is seen around 25 points higher at 5,320, after closing at 5,296.90 yesterday.

MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,296.9, up 41.1
FTSE 250 7,749.2, up 26.8
DJIA 10,481.60, up 68.80
Nasdaq Comp 2,152.09, up 22.33
S&P 500 1,220.35, up 11.95
Tokyo: Nikkei midday 12,546.01, up 132.41
Hang Seng midday 15,071.33, up 167.78
Gold 433.40 usd (430.55 usd)
Oil - Brent Oct 67.02 usd (67.57 usd)



ECONOMICS
Nationwide UK Aug house price survey (0600 GMT)
UK manufacturing PMI (0830 GMT)

TODAY'S PRESS
* Fears grow of energy crisis after hurricane; New Orleans mayor fears thousands dead in city - FT
* US will use reserves to stave off fuel crisis - Telegraph
* Gate Gourmet, the catering supplier to BRITISH AIRWAYS at Heathrow, could see a resumption of labour hostilities after David Siegel, its chief executive, warns that the group will probably have to impose compulsory redundancies - FT
* MasterCard to become an independent public company in an attempt to distance its bank owners from mounting regulatory and legal threats - FT
* HILTON GROUP will announce next week a sponsorship deal with a leading Formula One team; it is believed that Ian Carter, the new chief executive, has signed an agreement with the Williams team - Times

PRESS COMMENT
FT
THE LEX COLUMN comments on BPB (BPB will have to promise additional capital returns and maybe further action on the dividend to persuade shareholders not to take an improved Saint-Gobain offer), LOGICACMG (in the absence of rejigging the portfolio, sustainable profitability in France and Germany looks a long way off), Yield curve (market suggesting it could take an eventual fall in the short end to re-establish a meaningful curve), Sanofi-Aventis (now is not the perfect time to buy the shares) - PADDY POWER (looks a little pricey in the context of the company's substantial betting shops business) - JOHNSTON PRESS (until consumer and government spending rises, the shares are likely to continue to underperform) - SERCO (beware of profit-taking, but this is a stock to hold)
Telegraph
QUESTOR: SIGNET (still worth hanging on to your baubles), PADDY POWER (high enough for now), COSTAIN (still worth buying)
Guardian
O2 (bid talk) - WYEVALE GARDEN CENTRES (a buyer last night picked up 10 pct of the garden centre operator, paying 575 pence a share)
Times
RUMOUR OF THE DAY: WHAM ENERGY (to list on AIM this month) - DIRECTORS' DEALINGS: ROTALA (chairman buys 1.35 mln shares at 6.012 pence) - TEMPUS: SERCO (buy), PADDY POWER (hold), IMPERIAL ENERGY (buy, if you have the nerve)
Independent
THE INVESTMENT COLUMN: MATALAN (hold), PINEWOOD SHEPPERTON (sell), ARK THERAPEUTICS (for the long term, sell)
Mail
JD WETHERSPOON (talk of going private)
Express
SHARE WHISPER: ACAL (Platinum Investment Trust has just over 3 pct) - WHO'S DEALING: EUROPEAN MOTOR HOLDINGS (chief executive and finance director buy stock)

End of day market wrap