London close: Corus bid tussle helps Footsie
London finished the day with a slim advantage as beefy gains at Corus and a solid start on Wall Street helped overshadow weak oils and profit taking among last week's bid hopefuls.
Anglo-Dutch steel manufacturer Corus is at the top of two shopping lists after Brazilian group Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) launched a revised £4.9bn, 515p per share offer.
That trumped a revised 500p per share bid from India's Tata Steel earlier this morning, which Corus had previously backed. Tata said it is considering its position after CSN's move.
The company's shares are currently trading at a premium to CSN's offer in the belief that this battle is not finished, but some dealers reckon the bidding already fully values Corus.
In addition, Prudential has re-affirmed its commitment to its loss-making internet bank, Egg, after rebuffing a rumoured £950m offer for the online bank from Citigroup.
The giant insurer said yesterday, "Our focus remains on our continuing review of the UK business and completing the integration of Egg." Citigroup made an approach for Egg over a month ago.
Meanwhile, Lloyds TSB expects to deliver a strong trading performance for 2006 and to continue to achieve satisfactory profit growth. Results are forecast to be in line with market expectations, with profits up 7% to £3.69bn.
The bad debt charge as a percentage of average lending for the full year is seem lower than in the first half.
But oil majors dragged the leading index from early highs as crude prices slipped ahead of Thursday's OPEC meeting, with traders unsure about the chance of another production cut.
Cairn Energy and BG are both lower, while Royal Dutch Shell, also in the red, is reported to have made new proposals to give up control of the huge Sakhalin-2 energy project to Russia's Gazprom.
The tobacco sector was also in the doldrums on profit taking following last week's approach for Gallaher. Imperial Tobacco and BAT succumbed to the same fate as did possible Bank of America target Barclays.
In broker comment Cazenove upped shares in aerospace group Smiths to "outperform" from "in line" while UBS chopped shares in AstraZeneca to "reduce" from "neutral" and slashed its price target to 2,700p.
Life insurer Resolution was the biggest faller though after JP Morgan started coverage with 'underweight' advice and 600p price target.
Elsewhere, Pearson has sold its Pearson Government Solutions, its government services business, to private equity firm Veritas Capital for $560m in cash, $40m in preferred stock and 10%of the equity of the business.
Filtronic expects a flat performance in the second half, with both Compound Semiconductors and the Point to Point activity not expecting to show revenue growth.
Southern Cross Healthcare, which floated in July this year, reported a pre-tax loss of £17.4m while sales in the year to October rose threefold to £611m, boosted by its acquisition of Ashbourne Healthcare's 10,000 beds in November last year.
IT services group ICM Computer has ended all talks with Netstore but said it is now in early talks with another suitor.
Melrose Resources gushed higher on news that drilling success at the West Dikirnis field in Egypt will lead to a large increase in proven reserves.
Ulster-based TV and media group UTV today confirmed it has made an approach to media outfit SMG regarding a possible nil premium merger, just three months after dropping similar plans.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Corus Group (CS.) 527.25p +5.45%
Rolls-Royce (RR.) 443.25p +3.81%
International Power (IPR) 386.75p +3.48%
Shire (SHP) 1,065.00p +3.30%
British Land (BLND) 1,580.00p +2.80%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,490.00p +2.76%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,271.00p +2.42%
Alliance Boots (AB.) 812.00p +2.27%
Smith and Nephew (SN.) 496.00p +2.11%
Hammerson (HMSO) 1,497.00p +1.77%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Resolution (RSL) 637.50p -2.30%
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Imperial Tobacco (IMT) 2,013.00p -1.76%
Legal & General (LGEN) 157.50p -1.56%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 2,077.00p -1.47%
Centrica (CNA) 342.25p -1.37%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 1,444.00p -1.30%
Lonmin (LMI) 3,140.00p -1.16%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,824.00p -1.08%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,494.00p -1.06%
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,500.00p -0.99%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Alfred McAlpine (MCA) 574.00p +4.79%
Mouchel Parkman (MCHL) 435.00p +4.07%
Greene King (GNK) 1,111.50p +3.64%
DS Smith (SMDS) 189.50p +3.55%
Provident Financial (PFG) 683.50p +3.40%
Hays (HAS) 161.50p +3.19%
Wolverhampton and Dudley (WOLV) 1,790.00p +2.87%
Close Brothers (CBG) 1,008.00p +2.86%
Admiral Group (ADM) 993.00p +2.74%
RPS Group (RPS) 274.75p +2.71%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
PartyGaming (PRTY) 26.00p -9.57%
Woolworths Group (WLW) 33.50p -3.60%
Carpetright (CPR) 1,178.00p -2.81%
BSS Group (BTSM) 428.00p -2.67%
Rank Group (RNK) 243.25p -2.51%
SSL International (SSL) 368.75p -2.32%
Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) 302.75p -1.94%
Grainger Trust (GRI) 649.00p -1.67%
Rightmove (RMV) 367.00p -1.67%
Spectris (SXS) 752.00p -1.64%
