Leading shares look set for a flat start today amid position-squaring ahead of the long August Bank Holiday weekend, with the benefits of Wall Street's modest overnight advance offset by ongoing concerns over high energy costs, dealers said. Spread bettors IG Index expect the FTSE 100 index to start unchanged today, after closing 19.5 points lower yesterday at 5,255.7 Overnight on Wall Street, the DJIA ended 15.76 points higher at 10,450.63, while the Nasdaq composite index closed 5.46 points firmer at 2,134.37 with the market hemmed in by concerns about the negative impact of high energy costs on economic growth, as oil prices hit another record high in New York trade. Crude prices did pull back from recent record highs in Asian trading on indications that Hurricane Katrina would spare offshore oil rigs in the US Gulf Coast However oil prices still remained above 67 usd a barrel on persistent concerns over production and refinery bottlenecks amid robust energy demand to meet the needs of the world's major economies. The mood was mixed today in Asia. The Nikkei 225 index ended its morning session 31.48 points firmer at 12,436.64 reflecting Wall Street's gains, but the Hang Seng at midday was 1.08 points easier at 14,888.02 due to the oil price concerns. Ahead of the long bank holiday weekend in UK, and with the August vacations in full swing, there is only one set of corporate results scheduled for release today, albeit from blue chip advertising conglomerate WPP Group. The firm is expected to report a sharp rise in first half pretax profit, supported by strong growth in Latin America and China and new business from the acquisition of US rival Grey Global. And despite a weaker UK and European advertising market the world's second-largest advertising and communications services group is also expected to announce a rise in organic revenue of about 6 pct. The average forecast from analysts is for a headline pretax profit of 250 mln stg, up about 25 pct on the first half of last year under new international accounting rules. Revenue is also expected to show strong growth, up about 20 pct to 2.4 bln stg. No other results are due for release today, but AGM trading updates are scheduled from second line transport firm Stagecoach, and small cap firms Dyson and SkyNetGlobal.