Takeover buzz steadies FTSE

Takeover news provided the main focus on the London market today following a spate of announcements from FTSE 100 and second-tier stocks.

Banknote printer De La Rue and outsourcing firm Mouchel raced higher as they confirmed approaches, while blue chip miner Rio Tinto was also in the spotlight after its £2.2bn (€2.6bn) approach for Australian firm Riversdale mining.

The takeover excitement failed to spur on a lacklustre Footsie in early trading, but the FTSE 100 later gained ground, up 20.2 points to 5765.5.

Ongoing concerns over Europe continued to weigh on investor sentiment, while hints by Federal Reserve bank chairman Ben Bernanke that a third round of quantitative easing may be needed re-ignited worries about the state of the US economy.

Futures trading on Wall Street suggested the Dow Jones Industrial Average was heading for falls following Mr Bernanke’s comments.

He said in an interview last night that the US economy was still struggling to become “self-sustaining”.

Disappointing US payrolls data on Friday has added to concerns over America’s recovery.

In London, investor attention was set firmly on takeover developments in the Footsie and second tier.

FTSE 100 listed miner Rio Tinto has sparked a potential bid battle for Riversdale after it was flushed out as a suitor, although Rio’s shares were left little changed – down 2p to 4414p.

However, much of the focus was outside the blue chip index with De La Rue top of the FTSE 250 risers board – up 18% or 119.5p to 767p – after it confirmed an “opportunistic” approach, thought to be from French rival Oberthur Technologies for around £750m (€885m).

Punch followed it with a gain of 4.5p to 69.5p in the wake of a report suggesting CVC Capital Partners was preparing to bid for the group.

And elsewhere outsourcing firm Mouchel was 33% higher, up 18.5p to 75p, as it said it had received a number of approaches after recent hefty share price falls on financial fears.

Back in the FTSE 100, supermarket Tesco was among the fallers after broker UBS downgraded the group citing expectations for growth to slow over the next 10 years.

Shares in the retail giant, which reports back on third quarter figures tomorrow, dropped 5.3p to 421.7p.

Rolls-Royce was enjoying a better session, up 12.5p to 640p, thanks to news of recent energy project contract wins worth more than $110m (€83m).