Footsie makes a bright start

Excitement over possible corporate developments at Standard Chartered and Anglo American gave impetus to the FTSE 100 Index today.

Bid chatter involving Standard lifted shares in the emerging bank by 7% in a session when the rest of the banking sector barely moved.

With miner Anglo American also up on hopes it may be about to break itself up, the Footsie stood 15.5 points higher at 5726.5 by mid-morning.

The speculation over £30 billion-valued Anglo centred on the appointment of advisers to handle the sale of its packaging business Mondi. That lifted Anglo by 27p to 2018p and pushed a clutch of rival stocks in te same direction, including a rise of 30p to 1472p for Xstrata.

Standard’s gain of 88p to 1413p followed reports that it could be a target for a heavyweight American bank.

Elsewhere, Dixons and Currys owner DSG International stood near the top of the Footsie fallers board as investors showed nerves ahead of a Christmas trading update scheduled for Wednesday. Shares were off 3p at 164.25p.

Woolworths, which is due to issue a statement on the same day, fell half a penny to 37.25p in the FTSE 250 Index while top-flight rival Next dipped 15p to 1680p.

One of the heaviest falls came from Vodafone, down 2% or 2.75p to 125p, after investors lost the right to the latest dividend payment.

On a brighter note, Burren Energy rose 5% after announcing the expansion of its exploration activities into Yemen and the Oman. Shares were up 47.5p to 1082p, helping counterpart Cairn Energy to lift 16p to 1952p in the main tier and Tullow Oil to cheer 12.25p to 302.25p.

Among companies with corporate news, Aga Foodservice lifted 5p to 333p after announcing that a strong first half of the year had been followed by further progress in the second half.