Takeover bids fail to lift FTSE into positive territory

Blue chips endured another choppy day on the London market today as high-profile takeover activity failed to lift stocks into positive territory.

The FTSE 100 Index closed down 35.2 points at 6189.1, losing earlier gains as credit concerns across the Atlantic overshadowed trading despite a positive opening on Wall Street.

Akzo Nobel’s higher 670p-a-share proposed offer for Dulux paint maker ICI and hopes of merger and acquisitions in the insurance sector had helped the benchmark index gain advances earlier in the day.

ICI shares rose 3p to 634.5p after the chemicals giant confirmed it had opened its books to Dutch rival Akzo following the revised approach, worth just over £8 billion.

Insurers Standard Life and Friends Provident also made gains as the market speculated over which firms were planning to gatecrash Friend’s agreed merger with Resolution.

Standard Life, which is reported to be planning a bid for Resolution, saw shares leap 9.25p to 315p, placing the group at the head of the risers board.

International Power followed the life and pensions group in the list of share risers, gaining more than 2%, or 9.5p, to 435.5p after the firm boosted its portfolio of wind turbines.

Broker upgrades also came into play as a positive assessment on the television advertising market from Merrill Lynch helped boost broadcaster ITV ahead of its interims later this week. Shares closed up 2.5p at 104.3p.

But elsewhere in the media sector, Daily Mirror publisher Trinity Mirror suffered reverse fortunes on the back of a broker downgrade, off nearly 5%, or 22.25p at 474.75p.

Lehman Brothers cited last week’s disappointing news that Trinity’s sale proceeds were to come in short of expectations.

Falling gold and copper prices saw miners suffer losses, with Lonmin top of the share fallers ranking, off 156p at 3085p.

BHP Billiton was also down 41p at 1333p, followed by Kazakhmys down 36p at 1194p, Anglo American down 74p at 2685p and Rio Tinto falling 88p to 3219p.

Anglo-US fund management group Invesco fell victim to the persistent fears over US sub-prime mortgage default rates, off 3%, or 19p at 585p, largely as a result of fears over its exposure to the US high risk loan market.

The concerns also spread to investment firm Man Group, sending the firm 19p lower to 524p.

In the second tier, construction firm Morgan Sindall enjoyed a lift of 26p to 1693p after strong interim results and a dividend hike cheered the market.

Fellow construction and support services firm Alfred McAlpine also saw a 5% boost following positive broker comments over demerger plans unveiled last week. The stock moved 21.75p ahead to 484.5p.

The biggest Footsie risers were Standard Life up 9.25p at 315p, ITV ahead 2.5p at 104.3p, International Power up 9.5p at 435.5p and Persimmon up 22p at 1164p.

The biggest Footsie fallers were Lonmin off 156p at 3085p, Morrisons down 10.25p at 274.25p, Man Group down 19p at 524p and Punch Taverns down 36p at 1036p.