This Morning in London major shares were mixed from the opening after a strong finish on Wall Street yesterday. Xstrata (XTA) was the top FTSE gainer in early trade, up 52 pence at 3,808 - a record - after reports that the Anglo-Swiss mining company has held preliminary discussions with potential suitors, including Brazilian rival Vale. Whitbread (WTB) edged up 2 pence to 1,426 pence, after it said 39-week like-for-like sales were up 5.8 percent, though it saw softening sales at its pub restaurant business. The group said trading at budget hotel chain Premier Inn and Costa coffee, is resilient and in line with expectations. Like-for-like sales were up 10.8 percent at Premier Inn and 6.4 percent at Costa. At 9:30 the FTSE-100 was 18.2 points higher at 6,547.2. Yesterday, the index rose 10.5 points to close at 6,565.4. The FTSE-250 was up 20.8 points at 10,651.1.
BROKER RECOMMENDATIONS
ABN Amro downgrades Lloyds TSB (LLOY) to hold from buy, cutting target to 540p from 640p, reiterates sell HSBC (HSBA), has a buy and 220p target for Vodafone (VOD), a buy for Tate & Lyle (TATE) and a hold for BT Group (BT.A).
Altium Securities downgrades Game Group (GMG) to add from buy with a 240p target, upgrades Northgate (NTG) to add from hold with an 800p target, downgrades Inspace (INSP) to hold from buy, cutting target to 180p from 190p and reiterates buy and 585p target for Spice (SPI).
Bear Stearns has an outperform for Nokia (NOK) and a peer perform for Vodafone (VOD).
Citigroup upgrades Carillion (CLLN) to buy from hold.
Credit Suisse, in a note on UK housing, reiterates neutral for Taylor Wimpey (TW.), cutting target to 220p from 300p, upgrades Barratt Developments (BDEV) to outperform from neutral, cutting target to 530p from 780p and downgrades Persimmon (PSN) to underperform from outperform, cutting target to 630p from £12.
The broker has a neutral for National Grid (NG.), raising target to 880p from 720p.
Deutsche Bank has a buy and £20.50 target for Whitbread (WTB) has a buy for Amec (AMEC) ahead of a strategy presentation and a hold for UBM (UBM).
Goldman Sachs reiterates sell for Berkeley Group (BKG), raising target to £11.38.15 from £11.05.44, has a neutral for Emap (EMA), cutting target to 829p from 911p, a sell for Lloyds TSB (LLOY), cutting target to 498p from 502p, a sell for National Grid (NG.), raising target to 670p from 646p and removes the stock from its Conviction Sell list and has a sell for Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) and adding the stock to its Conviction Sell List.
Investec reiterates sell Vodafone (VOD) with a 160p target.
The broker reiterates hold and 330p target for Marston's (MARS).
WH Ireland has a speculative buy for Crimson Tide (TIDE), upgrades Driver Group (DRV) to outperform from market perform, reiterates buy Office 2 Office (OFF), with a 200p target, has a buy and 200p target for WSP Group (WSH) and buys for RWS (RWS) and Victrex (VCT).
KBC Peel Hunt has a hold for BBI Holdings (BBI), a sell for Game Group (GMG), a buy for Inspace (INSP) and a buy for Rightmove (RMV).
Landsbanki reiterates hold for Carpetright (CPR), has a hold for Domino Printing (DNO), buys for Laird Group (LARD), Polar Capital (POLR), Skyepharma (SKP), with a 31p target and has a reduce for Whitbread (WTB).
Merrill Lynch has a buy and 540p target for Hikma Pharma (HIK).
JP Morgan has an overweight for Reckitt Benckiser (RB.), a neutral for Lloyds TSB (LLOY) and an overweight for Vodafone (VOD).
Morgan Stanley has an equal-weight for Diageo (DGE).
Nomura reiterates buy Vodafone (VOD) with a 223p fair value.
Numis has a reduce and 850p target for Carpetright (CPR), a hold and 245p target for Game Group (GMG), a buy and 468p target for International Personal Finance (IPF), a hold and 494p target for Luminar (LMR), a sell and 50p target for Northgate Information Solutions (NIS), a buy and 371p target for RWS Holdings (RWS), an add and 67p target for Sportingbet (SBT), a hold and 360p target for JD Wetherspoon (JDW) and a buy and £23.05 target for Whitbread (WTB).
Panmure Gordon has a hold for Ashtead Group (AHT), cutting target to 90p from 150p, has a hold for Cadbury (CBRY), a buy and £12.50 for Carpetright (CPR), a hold and 350p target for Domino Printing (DNO), a buy and 126p target for Driver (DRV), a buy and £11.69 target for Fidessa (FDSA), a buy and 340p target for ITM Power (ITM), a buy and 231p for Office2Office (OFF), a hold and £31 target for Reckitt Benckiser (RB.), a buy and £20 target for Whitbread (WTB) and a buy and 180p target for YouGov (YOU).
Seymour Pierce reiterates outperform for Game Group (GMG), has an outperform for Intertek (ITK) and a buy for Tepnel Life Sciences (TED).
SG Securities has a hold and £29 target for Reckitt Benckiser (RB.), a sell and 305p target for Centrica (CNA).
UBS downgrades Benfield Group (BFD) to sell from neutral and upgrades Computacenter (CCC) to buy from neutral.
NEWS ROUND-UP
Last Night in New York stocks rose, with the Dow up triple digits, marking its fourth consecutive day of gains, amid cheer ahead of today's expected interest-rate cut and financial shares getting a lift from a hefty investment in Swiss banking giant UBS. Up about 130 points earlier on, the Dow Jones finished 101.5 points at 13,727.0, with 27 of the blue-chip index's 30 components closing ahead. The S&P gained 11.3 points to 1,515.96 and the Nasdaq rose 12.79 points to 2,718.95.
On this day in:-
1994 - Russia sent troops into a region called Chechnya, to control the independence movement.
1990 - Albania announced it would allow the formation of independent political parties.
1987 - The cane and bowler hat, trademarks of silent film comedy actor Charlie Chaplin, were sold at auction for £82,500.
1975 - The end of the IRA Balcombe Street siege.
1972 - USA astronauts aboard Apollo 17 landed on the Moon and began extensive exploration of the lunar surface.
1967 - The unveiling of the prototype of Concorde, the world's first supersonic airliner.
1961 - Two US helicopter companies arrived in Saigon, capital of South Vietnam, the first direct USA military support in the war against Communist guerillas.
1941 - World War II: United States of America declared war on Germany and Italy.
1936 - The abdication of Edward VIII, after reigning as King for just 325 days. He ascended to the throne, but was never crowned. After ruling for less than one year, Edward VIII became the first English monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne. The eldest son of King George V, Edward ascended to the throne in January 1936. He enjoyed immense popularity with his subjects until he announced his intention to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson, an American divorcee. Many in Great Britain opposed the marriage, but the king refused to call off his engagement. With no compromise possible, Edward announced his abdication, saying, “I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king, as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love.” That evening, Parliament passed a bill of abdication, and the next day Edward's younger brother was proclaimed King George VI. The former king was granted the title of Duke of Windsor, and in 1937 he married Wallis Warfield in France.
1921 - Several members of the Indian National Congress were arrested by the Great British authorities for advocating self-rule for India.
1914 - Great Britain's Royal Flying Corps, which later became the RAF, first adopted the distinctive red, white and blue roundel to identify its aircraft more easily during World War I.
1907 - Fire destroyed the Parliament Buildings at Wellington in New Zealand.
1903 - The world's first wildlife preservation society was founded, in Great Britain : The Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire.
1894 - There was a total of 9 exhibitors at the world's first Motor Show, which was held in Paris.
1844 - The first recorded use of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) by a dentist.
1816 - Great Britain restored Java, Indonesia, to the Netherlands.
1816 - Indiana officially became an American state.
1769 - Venetian blinds were patented by Edward Beran, in London.
