Material technology boosts FTSE

A fresh wave of takeover speculation caused shares in materials technology firm Johnson Matthey to jump by more than 8% today.

The blue-chip company is reportedly on the radar of Dow Chemical, lifting shares for a second successive session with a gain of 148p to 1891p.

The developments proved to be one of the few highlights from a lacklustre morning of trading, with the FTSE 100 Index 33.5 points higher at 6318.

One of the other noteworthy moves of the session came from ITV after the Competition Commission recommended pay-TV firm BSkyB reduce its controversial 17.9% holding in the company to below 7.5%.

That revived hopes of bid interest in the commercial broadcaster, which lifted 1.6p to 84.6p. BSkyB was unchanged at 607p after earlier falling 1% as traders faced up to the company making a loss on its investment in ITV.

Financial stocks were also steady after a reduction in inter-bank lending rates in recent days. Royal Bank of Scotland set the pace with a gain of 2% or 6.5p to 432p, while Barclays was 3.5p higher at 502.5p.

Top flight newcomer Tullow Oil provided the biggest fall of the session, with shares off 4% after the exploration firm disappointed analysts with an update from a test well in Uganda. Shares dipped 25.5p to 624.5p.

Meanwhile, shares in Sports Direct International continued to rally after the publication of half-year results prompted a 20% gain yesterday.

Investors followed the lead of chief executive Dave Forsey and finance director Bob Mellors, as both directors spent £1m (€1.4m) on the company’s shares today. The stock rose another 7%, or 7.5p to 108.5p.

Construction group Keller was another strong riser in the FTSE 250 Index, with shares ahead 40.5p to 681p after a positive trading update.