Midnight Monitor

Reuters

• Nikkei average rose 0.75% in morning trading on Thursday. Traders said overall gains were going to remain modest due to concern about earning estimates. The caution shown by most companies has disappointed most investors. Also worth noting, there is increasing concern that there is selling by both foreign and individual investors, i.e. there seems to be less demand for Japanese stocks.
• ABN Amro, one of the more recent high-profile acquisition targets, announced that it will take a US$498 million provision for an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into its money transfer activities.