The story of the day is the................>

EQUITIES: The story of the day is the extraordinary rally in Chinese equities,

which is boosting stock markets worldwide. 

- Asian stocks closed higher led by China, with Japan's NIKKEI up 407.96 pts or

+1.83% at 22714.44 and the TOPIX up 24.82 pts or +1.6% at 1577.15. China's

SHANGHAI closed up 180.068 pts or +5.71% at 3332.881 and the HANG SENG ended

966.04 pts higher or +3.81% at 26339.16

- European equities are rising, with the German Dax up 165.11 pts or +1.32% at

12694.05, FTSE 100 up 115.82 pts or +1.88% at 6273.06, CAC 40 up 76.46 pts or

+1.53% at 5083.6 and Euro Stoxx 50 up 49.64 pts or +1.51% at 3344.02.

- U.S. futures are higher, with the Dow Jones mini up 304 pts or +1.18% at

26065, S&P 500 mini up 31.5 pts or +1.01% at 3160.75, NASDAQ mini up 116.5 pts

or +1.13% at 10473.