HSBC Holdings Plc

Wall Street Tuesday posted modest gains following the report on the upbeat consumer confidence and home prices data. Technology stocks were also supported by news that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was developing a new iPhone. Yesterday Asian markets closed mostly higher. This week investors are also looking to the US nonfarm payroll data and expecting an improving labour market. Japanese stocks broadly gained led by steel makers. Nikkei rose 1 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.7 per cent while China's Shanghai Composite added 0.2 per cent. South Korea's Kospi increased 0.5 per cent.

Insto's Foreign Exchange Conference 2009 will be held at Sydney's Westin Hotel on Tuesday 10th of November. Registration is free for all institutional funds and corporate representatives along with all subscribers to Insto.

International banks, such as UK-based Standard Chartered Plc (LON:STAN), HSBC (LON:HSBA) and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ASX:ANZ), devoted more efforts to strengthen their exposure in Asia market amid global economy downturn.

Yesterday the Australian shares closed slightly lower as falls in financial stocks overshadowed the gains in big miners. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 0.1%, or 5.4 points, at 3747.5, while the broad-market All Ordinaries index fell 0.1%, or 4 points, at 3693.9.

Biota Holdings Limited (ASX:BTA)(PNK:BTAHY) announced today the appointment of Mr Richard Hill as a non executive Director.

eServGlobal Limited (ASX:ESV)(LON:ESG), a provider of end-to-end solutions, enabling smart communication and payment services for service providers on any generation network, today announced that it has signed a partnership agreement with SunTec, a leading provider of transaction pricing and billing solutions for the Communication, Media and Entertainment (CME) industry, to deliver a convergent billing solution targeting WiMax solutions for mobile service providers.