Good morning traders!

In the US last night, The Dow closed well off its lows, down 7.13 points at 10,377.87, after earlier being more than 60 points lower at one point.

The S&P500 and the Nasdaq Composite also closed off their worse levels, down 2.84 points at 1,196.54 and down 6.38 points at 2,109,45, respectively.

In Asia this morning, the Hang Seng index ended the first half up 15.09 points at 14,439.97, with the Nikkei up 92.67 points at 13,373.29 at the break in Tokyo.

Oil prices fell in Asian trade ahead of the release of US oil and gasoline inventories but stayed above $62 on supply concerns. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December was down 39 cents to $62.05 from its close of $62.44 in US trading overnight where it jumped $2.12 a barrel.

Quite a list of ex-ds to be aware of today.

Early broker notes:
BP UPGRADED TO 'BUY' VS 'NEUTRAL' AT MERRILL LYNCH
SMITHS GROUP UPGRADED TO 'BUY' VS 'NEUTRAL' AT MERRILL LYNCH
STAGECOACH UPGRADED TO 'OVERWEIGHT' VS 'NEUTRAL' AT JP MORGAN

Happy trading!

G.

LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares are set to show modest gains -- despite the weak end on Wall Street last night -- as investors await updates from Prudential and Egg, dealers said.
According to spread betting firm IG Index, the FTSE 100 should add about 8 points upon open after closing down 25.5 points down at 5,182.1 yesterday, its lowest level of the day.

MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,182.1, down 25.5
FTSE 250 7,535.6 down 14.7
DJIA 10,377.87, down 7.13
Nasdaq Comp 2,109.54 down 6.38
S&P 500 1,196.54 down 2.84
Tokyo: Nikkei midday 13,373.29, up 92.67
Hang Seng midday 14,439.97, up 15.09
Gold 472.30 usd (466.55 usd)
Oil - Brent Dec 60.24 usd (58.24 usd)

TODAY'S PRESS
* Royal Mail finance director will resign today, leaving the postal operator with a crucial board vacancy - FT
* Santander plans to turn its Abbey National subsidiary into a full competitor to the UK's largest banks - FT
* The planned merger of Boots and Alliance Unichem will penalise shareholders who are higher-rate taxpayers - Daily Telegraph
* There is growing speculation on Wall Street that Michael Bloomberg may sell his financial information service for up to 9 bln stg - Independent


PRESS COMMENT
FT
THE LEX COLUMN comments on RWE/THAMES WATER (the rationale for emphatically closing the book on Kuhnt's legacy remains strong), MARCONI (by finding a buyer and some share price upside, Marconi's executives have delivered a happy ending to a sorry tale), GRUPO SANTANDER (when it comes to acquisitions, management's opportunism keeps undermining the message), ASIAN INTEREST RATES (Asia's central bankers will be watching the new man at the Fed like hawks).
Telegraph
MARKS & SPENCER (takeover rumours revived) - QUESTOR: WHITBREAD (hold), CARPETRIGHT (hold), WESTBURY (hold)
Guardian
CABLE & WIRELESS (takeover speculation with France Telecom linked with bid)
Independent
THE INVESTMENT COLUMN: CARPETRIGHT (avoid), WESTBURY (sell)
Times
Directors' dealings: IMPERIAL ENERGY (Four directors buy stock for combined 138,600 stg)
Rumour of the day: DELTRON ELECTRONICS (confirms bid approach - Abacus linked)

Good morning.

Good morning all

End-of-day Market Summary