London close: Blue chips stay ahead
London finished the day with most of its gains intact as positive broker comment, healthy gains among the miners and an early recovery in the US gave the blue chip index a boost.
Cable & Wireless was strong through to the close on speculation that it is planning to demerge its British and international businesses.
The Observer said the company is considering a break-up via separate sales of its British and international businesses to private equity groups or foreign rivals in Europe or India.
Any purchase of its assets would have to give a value of 228p a share to the company, said the paper.
But International Power stole the lead as it rallied after Lehman Brothers lifted its price target on the shares to 505p from 415p.
Clothing retailer Next also charged higher after Morgan Stanley raised its recommendation on the stock to "overweight" from "equal-weight" and upped its price target to 2,600p from 2,000p.
Miners put in a good performance with Antofagasta and Xstrata both up strongly. Fellow mining giant Kazakhmys said first quarter copper cathode production rose 12% and copper in concentrate production increased by 10% compared to the same period in 2006.
Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and ABN Amro remained in focus as their bid triangle unfolds. A recent report suggested ABN Amro faces a monster lawsuit if it reneges on a deal to sell its LaSalle offshoot to Bank of America, which was agreed as part of the merger terms with Barclays.
In economic news, UK mortgage approvals jumped to 75,098 in March, a four-month high, far surpassing February's 54,659, according to data from the British Bankers Association out Monday.
But the figure was still well below the equivalent month in 2006 when approvals topped 85,000, suggesting the three rate rises since last August are beginning to bite.
Meanwhile, the GfK NOP consumer confidence measure improved to -6, a six month high, from -8 in March and beat economists' expectations for no change this month.
Elsewhere, Mothercare has agreed to acquire Early Learning Centre owner CSHL for a total consideration of £85m. "The consideration will be in the form of new Mothercare ordinary shares and the assumption of CSHL's net debt of approximately £36m," Mothercare said in a statement.
Online gamer 888 reported underlying profit before tax of $90.5m in 2006 with revenues 7% higher at $290m. Revenues from continuing operations rose by 28% to $157m with profits of $22.2m. The firm, which recently ended takeover talks with Ladbrokes, added it had made a good start to 2007 with 16% revenue growth in the first quarter. The good figures also gave rival PartyGaming a lift.
Oil and gas explorer Dana Petroleum said it delivered record production last year and is on target to grow further in 2007.
Russia-focused oil and gas explorer Urals Energy has confirmed a five-fold increase in its reserves after an independent assessment from US firm DeGolyer and MacNaughton.
Troubled health software group iSoft is in advanced discussions with several parties interested in acquiring or taking a significant stake in the company. The company said in a statement that the talks were with both trade and private equity firms. Results for the full year to April 30 are in line with expectations, it added.
Metal treatment group Bodycote has fallen after the ending of Swiss group Sulzer's bid interest on Friday.
IDMoS plunged after the disease detection and monitoring technology firm reported growing half year losses, adding that a delay in the launch of its initial dental products will result in a bigger than expected deficit for the year.
But Oasis Healthcare, which said last Friday it had received a number of bid approaches, confirmed it has rejected the lowest of these, valued at 60p per share.
FTSE 100 - Risers
International Power (IPR) 440.25p +3.28%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 457.25p +2.52%
Cable and Wireless (CW.) 185.60p +2.43%
Next (NXT) 2,349.00p +2.00%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 797.50p +1.98%
Standard Life (SL.) 325.00p +1.88%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 641.00p +1.83%
Yell Group (YELL) 488.50p +1.77%
Compass Group (CPG) 364.50p +1.74%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,490.00p +1.71%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Scottish and Newcastle (SCTN) 617.00p -1.28%
(Article continues below)Advertisement
Shire (SHP) 1,170.00p -1.02%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,085.00p -0.73%
Lonmin (LMI) 3,311.00p -0.69%
BAE Systems (BA.) 457.00p -0.65%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,347.00p -0.59%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,216.00p -0.57%
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) 1,930.00p -0.52%
Rexam (REX) 527.50p -0.38%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,669.00p -0.34%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Hochschild Mining PLC Ord 50p (WI) (HOC) 354.00p +8.92%
Pendragon (PDG) 121.00p +5.22%
MyTravel Group 'A' Ord (MT.S) 313.75p +4.50%
Spectris (SXS) 974.50p +4.28%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,067.00p +3.59%
Cookson Group (CKSN) 661.50p +3.36%
First Choice (FCD) 289.25p +3.30%
Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 290.00p +3.20%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 1,696.00p +3.10%
Punch Taverns (PUB) 1,304.00p +2.68%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Bodycote (BOY) 296.00p -8.92%
PartyGaming (PRTY) 48.00p -4.95%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 1,500.00p -4.58%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 134.50p -3.06%
Renishaw (RSW) 737.00p -2.64%
Mapeley (MAY) 3,747.00p -2.60%
Dimension Data (DDT) 47.50p -2.56%
Topps Tiles (TPT) 273.00p -2.24%
Group 4 Securicor (GFS) 231.00p -2.22%
Workspace Group (WKP) 455.50p -2.20%
