Britain's leading shares slipped for a second day on Friday as British Airways fell after strikes forced the airline to cancel flights and as oil stocks pulled back from recent highs, although the FTSE 100 index still rose for the fourth consecutive week.
Take-over talk continued to inject some interest during a generally subdued end to the week. Mobile operator O2 extended gains as talk that it could be targeted refused to die down.
The FTSE 100 closed down 12.8 points at 5,345.8, below its mid-week peak of 5,386, which was its highest level for almost four years, but up 0.6 percent over the week.
Both Reckitt Benckiser and Boots rose on talk of a deal for the retailer's healthcare business. Analysts at Deutsche Bank lifted their target on Reckitt's shares to 2,000 pence and said the household goods maker could pay up to 2 billion pounds ($3.6 billion) for Boots Healthcare International and still create value.
"It would give Reckitt's OTC (over-the-counter) business global scale rather than a UK stronghold," the bank said.
Deutsche also lifted its target on Boots to 625p on the expectation it would get a higher price for the business than expected. Reckitt shares added 2.4, percent and Boots hardened 1.8 percent.
Mid-cap brokerage firms were also in demand, and Collins Stewart shares leapt 24 percent after it said it had received a number of take-over approaches. The news sparked rallies by other potential brokerage targets, including Icap and Evolution up about 3 percent each.
A surge by crude oil prices to over $66 per barrel has taken some steam out of a 3-1/2 month rally by reviving the threat that high oil costs could hurt company profits, but analysts said the market mood remained upbeat.
"What's extraordinary is we've seen this move in tandem with an oil price rise that a year or two ago would have been regarded as a serious threat to the global economy," said Alex Scott, an analyst at Seven Investment Management.
"Equities don't look expensive relative to history or other asset classes, with the proviso that corporate earnings maintain their current pretty robust expansion. If you start putting question marks next to that, then it becomes a bit harder for stocks to make headway, but at the moment it looks well supported," Scott added.
British Airways was among the fallers in a broad-based FTSE retreat, ending down 0.8 percent after cancelling flights at London's Heathrow airport for a second day because of wildcat strikes, stranding thousands of passengers during its busiest period.
The strike could cost BA a similar amount to the 40 million pounds lost during a dispute in 2003, according to analysts at Dresdner, although they said it was unlikely to affect its earnings forecasts and that any weakness was a buying opportunity.
Oil stocks pulled back after their recent rally despite the lofty crude price, while banks and utility sectors also slipped. BP fell 1.07 percent, and Shell by 0.8 percent.
O2 added 2.8 percent as Bear Stearns said the operator's exposure to improving revenues in the UK and a possible leveraged buyout are positives for the stock, upgrading it to "peer perform".
Brewer Scottish & Newcastle rose 1.6 percent after comments from a board member of fellow brewer Carlsberg in a press interview sparked hopes of a bid for the British group. The chairman of Carlsberg's supervisory board said he was keen to take part in industry consolidation.
But oil explorer Burren Energy led mid-caps lower with a 7.5 percent fall after it conditionally agreed a $35 million deal with the Republic of Congo over the Kouilou area and M'Boundi field. Burren said it would sell 10 percent of its current 35 percent stake in the field at what analysts said appeared to be a knock-down price.
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