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.

Advancers

EDF gained 6.2% after a French constitutional court said on Thursday that government controls on prices charged by energy suppliers were incompatible with European Union targets for opening up energy markets to competition.

The court was ruling on the proposed merger between Gaz de France and Suez. It cleared an energy bill needed for the privatisation of GdF, but the court ruled that the planned merger could not become effective before July, 2007. Shares in GdF fell 1.7%, while Suez shed 0.6%.

Air carrier Lufthansa gained 4.9% after Morgan Stanley lifted its price target on the stock. EADS, the European aerospace group, rose 3.8% after it was reported to be close to fixing a launch for its A350 mid-sized long-haul jet.

Decliners

Ahold, the Dutch retailer, fell 3% after it said it faced a challenging fourth quarter after its slightly better-than-expected third-quarter numbers revealed tough conditions in the US.

Oil and gold

Oil prices retreated Friday on easing worries that OPEC would significantly reduce output to boost prices following a remark by Venezuela that cartel members had agreed to keep oil at $50 a barrel. Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell 43 cents to $62.70 a barrel on the NYME. January Brent crude at London ICE Futures exchange slipped 42 cents to $63.84 a barrel.

Gold opened Friday at a bid price of $647.79 a troy ounce, up from $647.10 late Thursday.

Currencies

The euro bought $1.3242 in morning European trading, a little below its level of $1.3250 in New York late Thursday and off a session high of $1.3282. The British pound on Thursday rose to its highest level against the dollar since September 1992. It advanced to $1.9748 on Friday before settling back to $1.9689, still above its Thursday level of $1.9661. The dollar rose to 116.20 Japanese yen from 115.75 yen.