Bus and train group Stagecoach was one of the very few advancers in the morning, reporting a big rise in full year profits Wednesday tracking strong growth in its bus and rail operations in the UK and North America. The stock rose 5.3%.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals surged after saying that first half revenues are expected to increase about 40%. The shares of the company advanced 5.4%.

Decliners

Northern Rock, a mortgage bank, plummeted 9.6% as it downgraded its profit guidance quoting a rise in funding costs. The bank added that annual profits would grow by 15 %, less than the 17 % anticipated by the market.

The lender was also responsible for the sharp decline in the mid-cap index, where Paragon Group, a specialist mortage lender, fell 6.4% and Bradford & Bingley lost 3.7%.

Other banks followed suit and plunged. Alliance & Leicester was off 2.9%, HBOS declined 2.3% and Lloyds TSB was down 2.1%.

Seven FTSE 100 constituents were trading without further rights to their latest dividend payment. Among them were United Utilities which lost 4 %, Tate & Lyle falling 2.7 % to 568p and Yell Group retreating 2.8 %.


[R]9:00AM Market futures declined amid weak durable goods orders.[/R]

U.S. stock futures moved to the downside Wednesday, weighed down by an unexpectedly steep decline in durable-goods orders in May. However, better-than-forecast earnings from Nike Inc. and Oracle Corp. bucked the downward trend.

Nike (NKE: chart) jumped 5% in pre-open trade after posting a 32% profit rise and the fastest growth in orders in the last four years. Oracle (ORCL: chart) gained 0.5% after reporting a 23% profit rise in Q4, helped by acquisition deals.

In other corporate news, Nuvelo (NUVO: chart) slipped 22% after the biopharmaceutical terminated its collaboration with Bayer on a blood-clot drug. Guitar Center (GTRC: chart) soared 19.9% after agreeing to be bought by Bain Capital in a deal worth $1.9 billion. S&P 500 futures dropped 4.1 points at 1,493.70 and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 4.5 points at 1,921.00. Dow industrial futures fell 26 points.


[R]8:30AM Asian markets decline Wednesday with only China bucking the downtrend.[/R]

Asian markets declined Wednesday. The Nikkei 225 Average settled 1.2% lower at 17,849. Toyota Motor Corp., the largest automaker in Japan, lost 1.7%, a record in almost three weeks. Another exporter, which declined was Nikon, down 2.8%. Brokerage houses lost on concern over energy projects in Russia and Venezuela, involving high geopolitical risk. Marubeni declined 3.2%, while Mitsui & Co. shed 3.6%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index fell 0.4% to close at 21,705. China Mobile declined 1.6%, and HSBC lost 0.8%. Oil companies also lost. Sinopec declined for a third straight day, 0.7% lower, in the wake of the surprise resignation of its chairman, and Cnooc lost 1.63%.

In South Korea, the Kospi Index lost 0.9% to 1,733. Banks declined on worries of further measures on the side of the central bank to cool down liquidity. Kookmin Bank closed down 1.7% and Korea Exchange Bank fell 3%. Hyundai bucked the trend and rose 2.1%. Australian S&P/ASX 200 plunged 2% to 6,184. Weak commodities weighed on the market with mining company BHP Billiton, down 1.8.

China bucked the trend and advanced on bargain hunting of oversold companies. High-tech company Beijing Centergate Technologies and FAW Car both advanced by the daily limit of 10%. The Shanghai Composite Index rallied 2.7% to end at 4,078..


[R]8:00AM Oracle reported better-than-forecast Q4 profit and sales.[/R]