Markets Overview: (Source: Bloomberg, FT, Reuters, DJ Newswires)

The UK 100 Index is called to open flat this morning at 6875pts after a record breaking day yesterday saw the UK 100 top out at 6899.9pts - the highest level in almost 15 years. This should come as no surprise, our American counterparts have been registering record highs all year, so too the Germans and the Chinese.

Industrial plant hire company Ashtead Group (AHT.L) led the UK 100 higher gaining 3.60% yesterday after delivering a punchy first quarter update. The company posted a 33% rise in pre-tax profits on strong demand in the U.S. and UK and raised full year guidance as a result sending the shares to a record high attracting a plethora of broker upgrades.

Building supplies company CRH (CRH.L) jumped 3.43% thanks to an upgrade from HSBC. The stock was promoted from an 'underweight' rating to 'neutral'.

Barclays (BARC.L) advanced 2.59% as brokers published new target prices - RBC Capital 260p and Numis Securities 280p.

Broker targets combined with takeover talk, helped push Vodafone (VOD.L) to a 3-month high. The shares reached 213.50p on talk of U.S. telecoms firm AT&T and Japan's Softbank plotting a move. Analysts at HSBC tipped the stock to reach 270p.

EasyJet (EZJ.L) gained 1.41% as traders boarded the stock ahead of this morning's monthly traffic update - Passenger numbers for August 2014 increased by 8.4% versus the same month last year.

Hargreaves Lansdown's (HL..L) full-year profit growth fell slightly short of expectations and it failed to reassure investors about the impact of new rules on fees sending shares to the foot of the table, down 5.79%.

Analysts at Barclays and Berenberg Bank were responsible for sending Admiral (ADM.L) shares lower by 4.60% as 'underweight' and 'sell' ratings were issued.

Fresnillo (FRES.L) and Randgold Resources (RRS.L) fell 2.15% and 0.72% as traders feared a further decline in the price of gold as equity markets rallied.

In U.S. trading the Dow Jones hit another record high at 17,160pts before closing unchanged at 17,078pts. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell as Apple Inc. tumbled 4.22%. Apple had rallied in 15 of the previous 17 sessions, adding 9.3% since Aug. 7 to reach a record close of $103.30 yesterday.

Asian stock markets are mostly lower with investors treading cautiously after Wall Street ended on a subdued note overnight. Investors are also looking ahead to the European Central Bank's monetary policy decision due later in the day.

In commodities, gold advanced slightly to $1275 as traders took advantage of lowest prices since June and assessed the situation with so-called cease fire in Ukraine.

WTI bounced 2.9% yesterday to trade at $95.50 and Brent rebounded from 16 month lows to finish 2.4% higher at $102.77 as peace plans were outlined in Ukraine.

In FX the dollar traded within 0.5% from eight-month highs against the yen ahead of ADP data released today. Meanwhile the euro weakened against major peers ahead of the ECB announcement and Draghi’s speech.

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Key Overnight Macro Data: (Source: Reuters/DJ Newswires)

• UK            Halifax House Prices      INLINE
• NZ            House Prices                        INLINE
• AU            Trade Balance                     BETTER

See Live Macro Calendar for full data line-up, incl. consensus expectations

Company Headlines

·         SuperGroup Q1 total sales up 15.9 pct

·         Cobham secures contract extension in Australia

·         Balfour Beatty sells Parsons Brinckerhoff to WSP Global for $1.4 bln

·         SuperGroup sees year profit rising

·         Centrica says earnings will be hit by nuclear checks

·         British transport group Go-Ahead annual profit rises 19 pct

·         Manulife to acquire the Canadian operations of Standard Life PLC