Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the Dow closed up 11.13 points at 10,697.17 with the Nasdaq down 1.52 points at 2,200.95 and the S&P500 off 0.96 at 1,233.76.

In Asia today, the Nikkei has closed down 27 points at 14,091.77 while the Hang Seng ended the morning session up 15.23 points at 14,644.72.

Oil prices rose further in Asian trade with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December was four cents higher at $57.73 a barrel from its close of $57.69 in US trading overnight.

Early broker notes:

INVENSYS UPGRADED TO 'BUY' VS 'HOLD' AT CITIGROUP
HSBC UPGRADED TO 'OVERWEIGHT' VS 'NEUTRAL' AT JP MORGAN
PARTYGAMING INITIATED 'OVERWEIGHT' AT HSBC; PRICE TARGET 122P

Happy trading!

G.

LONDON (AFX) - UK blue chips are expected to open slightly higher, taking their cue from Wall Street, ahead of the latest results from the likes of Vodafone and Northern Foods, dealers said.
According to spread-betting firm IG Index, the FTSE 100 is set to add 4 points at the open, after closing 4.9 points firmer at 5470.0 yesterday.

MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,470.0 up 4.9
FTSE 250 8,089.2 up 45.3
DJIA 10,697.20 up 11.20
Nasdaq Composite 2,200.95 down 1.52
S&P 500 1,233.75 down 0.95
Tokyo: Nikkei 14,091.77 down 24.27
Hang Seng midday 14,644.72 up 15.23
Gold 469.40 usd (467.50 usd)
Oil - Brent Dec 54.73 usd (54.69 usd)

TODAY'S PRESS
* Banks warn over Basel delay; worry over US decision to postpone adoption of global framework; resistance from politicians who see threat to small lenders - FT
* BAE SYSTEMS set for most of 3.5 bln stg carrier contract - FT
* World copper prices hit new highs on reports that China might have to buy large amounts of the metal to cover a short position after the mystery disappearance of a key trader - FT
* TESCO eyes India venture - FT
* BRITISH AIRWAYS is expanding its presence in India following the liberalisation of the India-UK aviation market agreed by the two governments earlier this year - FT
* ITV pulls out of bidding for slot on Freeview - FT
* NSG to raise PILKINGTON offer to 2.13 bln stg - Times

PRESS COMMENT
FT
THE LEX COLUMN comments on BRITVIC (at a 50 pct discount to Britvic's European peers and a one-third discount to the FTSE All-Share, that looks undemanding), Koch Industries/Georgia-Pacific (this deal takes on the trappings of a very large private equity bid), Russian corporates (have not benefited much from the improvement in its government's fortunes), Wal-Mart Stores (would need to grow dividends by 10 pct for another 30 years - and pay out 100 bln usd a year afterwards to justify its current share price)
Mail
BARCLAYS (Bank of America bid rumours; Dresdner Kleinwort does not believe a takeover will materialise)
Express
PARKDEAN HOLIDAYS (some dealers believe other suitors may still be willing to pitch up about 270 pence)
Telegraph
QUESTOR: PERSIMMON (buy), MAJESTIC WINE (hold), BUSINESS POST (hold)
Independent
THE INVESTMENT COLUMN: BRITVIC (take a sip of Britvic when shares start trading), UNIQ (steer clear until rise in debt is checked), CHRYSALIS (buy on the hope of a deal)
Times
TEMPUS: PERSIMMON (aims at place in FTSE 100), BUSINESS POST (avoid), CHRYSALIS (hold)

Good morning all.

Good Morning all

Afternoon All,

Are there no VOD traders on here then?

Midday Market Summary

Stan - I think you will find there are one or two.... ;-)

YES// i have afew A GOOD TIME TO BUY MORE ME THINKS/////

Thanks boys, and what good time would that be bristlehead? -:)....now down 10%.

End-of-day Market Summary

OUTLOOK - EMI to report solid H1 results

LONDON (AFX) - EMI Group PLC, the world's third biggest record company, will this morning publish an improved set of fiscal first-half results following the release of two chart-topping albums.
In a recent trading update, EMI said turnover at its Recorded Music division rose 4.5 pct in the six months to the end of Sept, thanks to new material from Coldplay and Gorrilaz.
That should help overall group revenue rise to about 917 mln stg in the first half, up from 851.0 mln last year. Adjusted pretax profits, meanwhile, should jump to 40.5 mln stg from 36.9 mln, according to analysts' forecasts.
Conor O'Shea at UK broker Teather & Greenwood said he would be looking for evidence of a pick-up in US CD sales, which have been in decline over the past 12 months as more and more music is sold over the internet.
Despite the uncertainties clouding the record industry's longer term outlook, O'Shea reckons that EMI can at least expect a strong end to its financial year.
"EMI's release schedule looks strong, which may compensate for the lack of depth in their roster and below-average exposure to faster-growing genres like Urban and Latin," said O'Shea in a research note.
The group is expected to announce an interim dividend of 2 pence per share, unchanged from last year's level.