Britain's leading shares rose on Monday, boosted by gains in retailer Marks & Spencer as hopes for a bid spurred on its recovery following last week's dismal trading statement.
Among mid-caps, bookseller WH Smith raced up 34 percent to 349-1/2 pence after it said UK private equity firm Permira had approached it about a bid at a possible price of 375 pence a share, valuing the company at around 940 million pounds ($1.7 billion).
The FTSE-100 index put on a late show of strength to close up 8.9 points, or 0.2 percent, at 4,546.2, rising for the third session in a row. The index, which ended at its best level in five weeks, has risen 3.7 percent so far this month.
But weaker oil firms BP and Shell held the market back after Opec said it would continue to supply red-hot oil markets with excess crude above official group limits to cool oil prices.
Both BP and Shell shed around one percent. Earlier Shell announced the departure of Chief Financial Officer Judy Boynton, the latest casualty of the fall-out from surprise cuts to its oil and gas reserves that angered investors.
Peter Bodycombe, a fund manager at Singer & Friedlander Investment Management said the FTSE may still be capped by concerns over the direction of US markets.
"A lot of it depends on how confident we feel about the United States moving forward, because it's so much the dominant player," he said. "And deep at the back of everyone's minds is the unquantifiable impact of what happens in the Middle East."
Turnover was a sluggish two billion shares, reflecting caution ahead of Wednesday's Congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
Investors are anxious for clues as to the timing of any rate rise.
Marks & Spencer led blue chip gainers with a rise of just under five percent after a report in newspaper The Business that US buy-out specialists and UK retail entrepreneur Philip Green were among those eyeing the department store chain offset disappointment over last week's disastrous trading update.
"It is not our belief that Marks & Spencer is in terminal decline and therefore we would see any bid as opportunistic and, in our view, at completely the wrong time for shareholders to sell out," said Richard Ratner, an analyst at brokerage Seymour Pierce.
Elsewhere among blue chip retailers, supermarket chain Tesco rose 3.3 percent. Dealers said hopes for robust earnings on Tuesday had sparked interest in the stock.
Among mid-caps, hopes for a round of consolidation in the sector lifted high-street names Woolworths, Somerfield and Matalan.
But Big Food Group slipped 6.3 percent, dented by a report in the Financial Mail on Sunday that sales at its Iceland frozen food chain had fallen over the Easter break.
Back among blue chips, drug-maker AstraZeneca dipped 1.4 percent after the Anglo-Swedish company sent a letter to doctors in Canada warning of potential liver problems associated with asthma drug Accolate.
The fall compounded a drop on Friday triggered by news that an Indian firm had given notice that it was looking to produce a cheap generic version of AstraZeneca's $1.5 billion-a-year schizophrenia drug Seroquel.
Comments
Comments are closed.