Takeover talk fuels FTSE rise

The London market was in positive territory today as takeover rumours fuelled interest in property stocks.

Liberty International was the biggest gainer of the session – up 5% – after reports of merger talks with Westfield about becoming the world’s largest shopping mall group.

With sentiment helped by a late rally on Wall Street overnight, the FTSE 100 Index stood 15.2 points higher at 5782.9 by mid-morning.

The advance came despite a number of heavyweight stocks turning ex-dividend - meaning shares traded without the right to the latest shareholder payout.

Royal Bank of Scotland fell 9.75p to 357.5p as a result, while Barclays was 12p lower at 444.75p and Lloyds TSB dipped 11.25p to 429p.

But Liberty’s gains – up 51p to 994p on the merger speculation – also helped Hammerson and British Land, ahead 47p to 1120p and 34p to 970p respectively.

Insurer Prudential meanwhile gained almost 5% after the shareholders of Chinese player Ping An approved plans to raise £8.5 billion in funding. The Pru rose 28p to 630.5p as investors speculated on Ping An taking a stake in a major European insurer.

The top six fallers were all ex-dividend stocks, led by British Energy off 16p to 541.5p.

Shares in broadcaster ITV also began the session in the negative territory after annual profits fell 35%, but later cheered 0.7p to 67.2p, as executive chairman Michael Grade remained upbeat over the turnaround of the group.

Outside the top flight, shares in newspaper group Johnston Press fell almost 6% after it said advertising revenues got off to a weak start in 2008. Shares were down 10.75p at 177.5p.

Frankie & Benny’s owner Restaurant Group fared better as it said like-for-like sales rose 4% in the first nine weeks of this year. Shares were 2.5p higher at 148.5p, a gain of 2%.