Solid gains for FTSE

The London market was firmly on the front foot today as investors cheered a bidding war for the UK’s largest ports operator AB Ports.

The FTSE 100 Index closed 112.5 points up at 5619.3, while the second tier FTSE 250 Index finished 319.6 points ahead at 9101.8 on a much better day for world markets.

Bourses across Europe were in positive territory, while New York got off to a strong start.

The main story of corporate interest in London involved AB Ports after Australian bank Macquarie indicated it would derail the company’s agreed offer with US investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Goldman upped its takeover offer for AB Ports to 840p or £2.58bn (€2.93bn), an increase of almost £100m (€146.50m), but the Macquarie-led team countered by revealing it was considering a proposal of at least 840p a share.

Shares in AB Ports were still well above the Goldman offer price and closed 45p up at 871.5p.

Insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson – another second-tier stock – soared 6% following a report that a merger may take place with the Benfield Group or Heath Lambert. Even though Jardine issued a statement saying it knew of no reason why it shares were up, the stock still stood 21.25p higher at 366.25p.

In the top flight, miners forged ahead to put back some of their losses. Xstrata gained 144p to 1966, Anglo American was up 132p to 1989p, BHP Billiton rose 66p to 982p while Kazakhmys was ahead 68.5p to 1008p. General miner Vedanta topped the second flight with a gain of 150p to 1256p.

Jimmy Yates, trader at CMC Markets, said: “Miners have very much lead the way in the UK, supported by higher gold prices on the back of evidence that the dollar may be coming under pressure once again.”

Energy companies were also on the front foot with shares in Royal Dutch Shell up 42p to 1777p, while BP moved 14p higher to 600p and BG lifted 23p to 658p.

BAE Systems recovered from yesterday’s difficult session, when shares were rocked by fears over the value of its 20% stake in Airbus. The stock was up 13.25p at 358.25p.

Only a handful of stocks were in negative territory, but these included the major supermarkets after the Competition Commission promised a speedy investigation into the £95bn (€139.18bn) groceries sector and said it would look at competition issues only.

Morrisons eased 2p to 194.5p, but Sainsbury’s and Tesco recovered following early falls and closed 2.25p up to 321p and 3.75p higher at 331p, respectively.

Among other FTSE 250 Index stocks, MyTravel shares were 8p weaker at 220.5p, despite narrowing half-year losses and issuing an optimistic trading update.

The day’s biggest blue chip risers were Corus up 28.5p to 383p, Xstrata up 144p to 1966p, Kazakhmys up 68.5p to 1008p and BHP Billiton up 66p to 982p.

The day’s biggest blue chip fallers were GlaxoSmithKline off 16p to 1458p, Morrison down 2p to 194.5p, BT off 2p to 226.75p and Smith & Nephew down 1.5p to 436p.