This Morning in London major shares were brightly higher in early trading, following a solid end to Wall Street's week. Investors will be looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates on Wednesday. At 9:45 the FTSE-100 was up 40.7 points at 6,702.0 with the FTSE-250 ahead 81.1 points at 11,590.7.
BROKER RECOMMENDATIONS
Citigroup has resumed coverage of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) appending a sell (previously the broker had a buy recommendation on the stock).
The broker says buy Homeserve (HSV) (raising the price target to 2400p from 22.75p) and says hold Lonmin (LMI) (3700p target).
The broker says sell Woolworths (WLW) (23p target).
Collins Stewart reiterates buy Resolution (RSL) (750p price target).
Daniel Stewart reiterates buy Dori Media (DMG) (270p price target) and says buy London Capital (LCG) (400p price target), Tristel (TSTL) (73p price target) and Twenty (TWE) (20p target).
The broker says hold Worthington Nicholls (WNG) (22p target).
Deutsche says buy Legal & General (LGEN) (cutting the price target to 162p from 168p) and Premier Oil (PMO) (cutting the price target to 1420p from 1450p).
JP Morgan has issued a note on European Miners, in which the broker reiterates neutral on Anglo American (AAL) (raising the price target to 3284p from 3070p), with overweight on BHP Billiton (BLT) (raising target to (2071p from 1695p), Hochschild Mining (HOC) (raising target to 439p from 434p), Vedanta Resources (VED) (raising the price target to 2462p from 2035p), Xstrata (XTA) (raising the price target to 3925p from 3411p) and Kazakhmys (KAZ) (cutting the price target to 1659p from 1744p) and downgrades Antofagasta (ANTO) to underweight from neutral (raising the price target to 787p from 671p).
The broker has neutral on Unilever (ULVR).
UBS says buy Lonmin (LMI) (40p price target) and has downgraded Cairn Energy (CNE) to neutral from buy (raising target to £27.50 from £25.50).
NEWS ROUND-UP
Last Friday in New York the Dow Jones rallied 134 points to 13,806, racking in a 2.1% advance for the week. The S&P gained 20 points to 1,535 and rose 2.3% on the week. But most of the gains were seen in the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which rallied 1.9% to 2,804 for a weekly gain of 2.9%. After a week of gains led by technology earnings, the market will have its focus firmly back on the ailing U.S. economy this week, this time with strong hopes that the Federal Reserve will again cut interest rates on Wednesday.
On this day:-
1618 - Explorer Sir Walter Raleigh, once a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, was beheaded at Whitehall in London.
1787 - Mozart's opera 'Don Giovanni' was performed for the first time, in Prague.
1863 - Swiss philanthropist Henri Dunant founded the International Red Cross, after seeing the number of casualties at the Battle of Solferino in Northern Italy, and noting how many died from their untreated wounds.
1888 - The signing of the Suez Canal Convention in Constantinople, allowing for the canal to be open to all nations, in war as well as in peace.
1923 - Turkey was proclaimed a Republic.
1929 - 'Black Tuesday.' The continuing 'Wall Street Crash' which began the week before on Thursday, 24th October. The 'Great Depression' of the American economy, which lasted until 1932.
1972 - Palestinian terrorists hi-jacked a German airliner and demanded the release of 3 Arab terrorists, captured during the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich.
1975 - More than 20 people were injured in an IRA bomb attack on a restaurant at Mayfair in London.
1982 - In Australia, Lindy Chamberlain was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of her 9-week-old baby, who disappeared on a family trip into the outback. She claimed the baby had been killed and eaten by a dingo which had come into the camp and taken the child from their tent.
1986 - In Britain, the opening of the final section of the M25, the motorway around Greater London designed to relieve traffic congestion within the capital.
1987 - American boxer Thomas Hearns won the world middleweight title, the first boxer to win a world title at 4 different weights.
2003 - Iain Duncan Smith was ousted from his seat as leader of the Tory party in a no-confidence vote.
