British Energy continued to recover from the 25% fall on Monday. Shares in the generator, lifted by a spate of supportive comment from analysts and short sellers buying back their positions, gained a further 4.2%.

Rumoured takeover target Hanson advanced 3% as London reacted to news that the US homebuilders index had risen from 30 to 31 points in October. Along with Wolseley, 2.4% higher, Taylor Woodrow, 1% stronger, and George Wimpey, 1.5% stronger, Hanson is one of the UK stocks most exposed to US housing market trends.

Decliners

The top decliners included Reuters easing 1% after third-quarter results from the news and financial information group failed to trigger earnings upgrades from City analysts. International Power eased 1.5% as analysts denied Tuesday rumours of interest from RWE of Germany.

Corporate news

Cobra Electronics has entered an agreement to purchase Performance Products, a privately held, UK-based consumer electronics company for about 17 million pounds plus two earn-out payments with a total of 12.5 million pounds.

9:00AM Yahoo and Intel earnings lift stock futures.
U.S. stock market futures moved higher on Wednesday, lifted by upbeat quarterly earnings, released by Intel Corp. and Yahoo Inc. Overseas strength for technology giant International Business Machines also helped generate positive mood. S&P 500 futures edged up 0.8 of a point at 1,372.50 and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 2.25 points at 1,722.50. Dow industrial futures rose 14 points.

Intel share added 1.2% in pre-opening hours after the world''s largest chipmaker''s Q3 earnings report showed signs it had overcome the worst of its problems. Intel (INTC: chart) reported a 35% profit drop, though compared to Q2 results, profit rose 47%. Internet bellwether Yahoo (YHOO: chart) jumped 3.5% in pre-open after the company met expectations with a 20% sales rise. The company reported 37% profit drop to $158.5 million, or 11 cents a share, from $253.8 million, or 17 cents, a year ago, meeting expectations. International Business Machines (IBM: chart) posted better-than-expected Q3 earnings, with revenue growing 5% on strong sales of software and hardware. The quarter''s net profit jumped 47% to $2.22 billion due largely to a lower tax bill. Net income rose to $1.45 per share, up from 94 cents a share a year ago, as the company absorbed a $525 million tax expense on foreign earnings that were repatriated to the U.S. IBM’s shares gained 4% in pre-market trading.

7:30AM Asian markets end mostly higher, financials power Japan.
Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday. Japan''''s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.25% to finish at 16653.00. Toyota, which was down through most of the trading session following its recent sharp rally, ended up 0.3%. Toshiba advanced 2.8% after revising up its earnings outlook for the first half ended September. Aeon finished up 0.4% on last-minute bargain-hunting after trading in negative territory through most of the trading day.

In South Korea, gains in South Korean banking shares supported the local stock market to close up, despite concerns over North Korea. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index edged up 0.2% to 1354.26.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gained 0.18% to end at 18048.09. In Taiwan, though, shares dropped slightly, pushed down by the food and electronics sectors. The Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange shed 0.8% to 7017.6. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the biggest contract chipmaker by revenue in the world, declined 1.4% and rival United Microelectronics dropped 1.9%.

6:30AM European stocks rise in early trading Wednesday on tech stocks.
European markets were higher by mid-morning on Wednesday. The U.K. FTSE 100 index gained 0.6% at 6,144.40, Frankfurt Xetra Dax was up 0.5% at 6144.33 and CAC 40 in France was up 0.5% at 5330.73.

Advancers

Leading fine paper manufacturer, M-real rose 13% after the company tabled a cost cutting plan expected to save 100 million euros.

British Energy bounced back after a sharp fall earlier in the week and was up 3.7% as analysts said there was plenty of spare energy capacity for the coming winter despite problems at the company’s nuclear power stations.

Man Group was higher by 3.4% amid news it plans to demerge its brokerage division, Man Financial. In mining stocks, BHP Billiton was up 1.1% and Rio Tinto was up 2.8% as analysts expect upbeat metals prices.

Decliners

Akzo Nobel declined 7% after the Dutch pharmaceutical group announced a delay loomed in launching its anti-schizophrenic drug, Asenapine amid missing analysts’ quarterly earnings expectations. Dutch electronic chip maker, ASML sank 5%, despite reporting a record third quarter profit that exceeded forecasts.

Reuters plunged 1.6% as well after it reported third quarter results slightly better than forecasts. Collins Stewart cut Reuters to a hold from buy after the earnings release.

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