Monday July 3, 02:20 PM
London afternoon: Bid talk injects confidence
LONDON (ShareCast) - With stocks trading at a seven week high in the afternoon, London's mini rally look set to continue through to the close as bid talk injected confidence into the market.
Mortgage lender Northern Rock (LSE: NRK.L
- news) was leading the risers on the back of reports over the weekend that it could consider a possible merger with Bradford & Bingley .
Meanwhile fears that satellite broadcaster BSkyB (LSE: BSY.L - news) could end up overpaying for AOL (NYSE: TWX - news) 's UK internet access operations has the group on the way down today. A price tag of some £650m has been mentioned in the press.
Supermarket giant Wm Morrison was one of the best performers after speculation over the weekend that the group is being targeted by a consortium of private equity houses looking to make a £6bn bid for the firm.
BP , Royal Dutch Shell (Amsterdam: RDSA.AS - news) and BG Group (LSE: BG.L - news) all enjoyed healthy gains today as crude prices slipped from their recent peaks but remained steadfastly higher on the day down just 8 cents at $73.85 a barrel.
BP (LSE: BP.L - news) 's production fell to around 4.01m barrels per day in the second quarter compared with 4.112m at this time last year, it announced today while refining margins are also sharply higher.
Conversely Cairn Energy topped the fallers after disappointing news on several of its appraisal wells. It added that oil production is expected to fall during the first half. Cairn also won approval from the Indian Government to develop four exploration sites in the country
HSBC upgraded utility Kelda to "overweight" from "neutral" suggesting that the group has the potential to create added value through regulatory outperformance in Yorkshire Water and a restructuring of the business.
International brewer SABMiller (LSE: SAB.L - news) has agreed to buy two alcoholic drink brands, caffeinated alcohol malt beverage Sparks and slow brewed lager Steel Reserve, for $215m from US brewing group The McKenzie River.
Contract caterer Compass was leading the risers for much of the morning, having shot ahead in the last few weeks following the sale of its travel concessions unit.
BAE Systems (LSE: AP16.L - news) fell sharply after a valuation of its 20% Airbus (Paris: NL0000235190 - news) stake came in at €2.75bn. The figure was far less than the €3.5bn that the market had been expecting.
Bus and train group National Express (LSE: NEX.L - news) has traded in line with expectations in the first half. The group adds it is fully hedged against fuel prices for the current year.
The former head of the banking division of Misys (LSE: MSY.L - news) , Ivan Martin, is in talks with private equity backers about leading a bid for the British software firm, according to reports this morning. Martin's bid of over £1bn would pit him against a possible management buyout announced last month headed by chief executive Kevin Lomax.
Property advisor Savills (LSE: SVS.L - news) said today that the UK housing market could weaken in the second half of the year after a strong first half. "While our order book remains stronger than last year, we have some caution that the residential markets may not be as buoyant in the second half, said Savills.
Robotic Technology says trading in the first half of 2006 has fallen short of last year in respect of both ongoing businesses. While orders and prospects are encouraging for the second half, RTS Life Science experienced some delays.
Media Steps (LSE: STEP.L - news) , the troubled group that specialised in advertising on stairways, announced today that its businesses have been sold for a total of £1.
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