Other news

Salaries in India rose faster than any other major country in Asia this year, companies in India and in the Asian region are under pressure to retain talent and spend more to compensate employees, a global resource company has said.

10:20AM October construction activity report and manufacturing activity survey drag market averages lower.
S&P 500 down 5.12, Nasdaq down 19.2 and Dow down 39.2
Market averages turned negatively on the heels of two reports. October manufacturing activity survey index fell to 49.5 fro 51.2 according ISM and construction in the month fell 1% according to Department of Commerce. This drop was on top of revised 0.8% drop in September activity. Residential construction fell 1.9%, biggest decline since June of this year. However, government construction rose 0.8% to $273.1 billion annual rate. Residential construction fell for the seventh month in a row.


9:30AM London benchmark index advances on Friday on mining stocks.
The FTSE 100 in London advanced 31.7 points or 0.5% to 6,080.5 in mid-morning exchanges.

Advancers

Vedanta Resources gained 2.3% and Xstrata traded 3.3% higher. Xstrata was also lifted after Xstrata Nickel announced the first phase of development of its Fraser Morgan nickel project in Ontario. Rio Tinto rose 1.40%, while BHP Billiton advanced 0.52%.

International Power shares added 3.8% after Morgan Stanley raised its price target. Fellow utilities followed suit with Kelda Group up 2.4% and United Utilities 2.3 % higher.

In corporate news, Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries shares climbed 3.8% after it reported solid full-year results.

UK insurer Prudential was trading 1.4% to the good on a positive Asia outlook. The company said it expects at least to double 2005 asian life new business profits by 2009. Morgan Crucible rose 1.2% on the back of a broker upgrade. Credit Suisse raised its price target on the engineer.

Decliners

Industrial products manufacturer Chapelthorpe declined too as the shares lost around a quarter of their value after it warned of exceptionally difficult trading conditions and axed its dividend. Chapelthorpe plunged 27.59%.

AstraZeneca remained depressed, as yesterdays comments from Sanford Bernstein remained fresh in the mind. AstraZeneca lost 1.32%. Citigroup downgraded Rank Group from buy to hold, sending the shares of the leisure group 3.2% lower.


9:15AM Futures trading indicate a mild positive bias at the opening.
Market averages are expected to open higher as futures trading indicate a slight positive bias in Nasdaq and S&P500 indexes. Nasdaq is trading 2 points ahead and S&P500 is trading 1.8 points ahead of the opening. Traders are focused on ISM report on manufacturing sentiment report for November, auto sales and dollar trading in currency markets. Dollar is up a small fraction against yen on October inflation report of 0.1%, lower oil prices helped. European shares rose on revised price projection by Goldman Sachs. Xstrata, BHP Biliton and Rio Tinto led the rally in mining stocks at mid-day trading in Europe. A local bank survey of European manufacturing suggested expanding manufacturing activities to a 17-month high lifting euro to a 20-month high. Dollar held steady against pound after dropping to a 14-year low.

7:30AM Asian markets ended mostly higher with Japan up, while HK dipped.
Asain markets finished mostly higher on Friday. Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index rose 47.45 points, or 0.3%, to close for the week at 16321.78. In Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index fell 269.66 or 1.4%, to 18690.82. Local phone operator PCCW plunged 5%, a day after shareholders rejected a proposal to sell the stake of chairman Richard Li in the company. China Mobile fell 2.5%, Sino Land slipped 0.1% and Sun Hung Kai Properties dropped 2.2%.

The Chinese yuan rose to a fresh high against the U.S. dollar, capping a week of gains and boosting share prices to a five-year high in Shanghai. The Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.1% to 2102.05, its highest closing level since July 25, 2001, when it ended at 2112.25.

The Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange climbed 45.85 points, or 0.6%, to 7613.57. Singapore shares dipped on cautious trading, but traders said the market uptrend is likely to continue over the next few weeks. The benchmark Straits Times Index declined 2.49 points, or 0.1%, to 2836.04.

South Korean shares inched up, as news that Chinese steelmaker Shanghai Baosteel Group may ask Posco to buy its shares buoyed the Korean company stock. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, moved up 2.15 points, or 0.2%, to 1434.36. In Austarlia, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index shed 54.2 points, or 1%, to 5427.9. The stock market fell, with finance stocks under pressure as investors braced for weaker near-term performances on US markets.

6:30AM European stocks gain in early trading on Friday on EDF issue.
European markets were higher on Friday. In mid-morning trade, London FTSE 100 climbed 0.5% to 6,080.3, Frankfurt Xetra Dax gained 0.6% to 6,350.17, and the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.5% to 5,353.74.