This Morning in London shares opened back above the 6700 level, for the first time since July, but a lack of follow through interest and some selective profit taking saw the FTSE-100 shed gains to trade modestly lower with BA (BAY) up on BMI merger chatter. Yesterday's talk of a potential joint bid for Scottish & Newcastle (SCTN) from Carlsberg and Heineken pushed the shares up a further 10 pence to 766 amid growing speculation rival bids could emerge with 850 pence being touted as a knock-out level. By 9:40 the FTSE-100 was off 17.5 points at 6,660.2 having hit an early high of 6,722.0. The FTSE-250 was off 50.3 at 11,487.7.
BROKER RECOMMENDATIONS
ABN Amro initiates coverage of Ashtead Group (AHT) with a buy and 170p target price.
Collins Stewart has a buy and 580p target for British Airways (BAY).
HSBC downgrades Rank Group (RNK) to neutral from overweight.
WH Ireland upgrades Civica (CIV) to buy from market perform.
KBC Peel Hunt has a buy for Trading Emissions (TRE).
Landsbanki initiates coverage of Vantis (VTS) with a buy and 240p target and has a reduce for Carnival (CCL).
Lehman Bros initiates coverage of Whitbread (WTB) with an equal-weight and Intercontinental Hotels (IHG) with an overweight.
JP Morgan has an overweight for BP (BP.), raising target to 700p from 650p and downgrades BG Group (BG.) to neutral from overweight while raising target to 950p from 925p.
Morgan Stanley upgrades Liberty International (LII) to overweight from underweight.
Numis has a hold and 450p target for Mothercare (MTC), an add and £15.02 target for QXL Ricardo (QXL), a buy and 195p target for Trading Emissions (TRE), a hold and 110p target for Umbro (UMB), an add and 715p target for VT Group (VTG) and a buy and 227p target for YouGov (YOU).
Pali downgrades DSG International (DSGI) to neutral from buy.
Seymour Pierce has a hold for Civica (CIV), a hold on DSG International (DSGI), a hold for Smiths News (NWS), an outperform for Mothercare (MTC) and an underperform for Umbro (UMB).
In a review of UK newspaper publishers the broker has buys for Johnston Press (JPR) and Daily Mail (DMGO) and an outperform for Trinity Mirror (TNI).
NEWS ROUND-UP
Last Night in New York stocks closed mixed after escalating oil prices quashed an earlier rally, but the technology-dominated Nasdaq retained solid gains on profits from bellwethers United Technologies and Intel. After rallying early on, Wall Street's about-face coincided with another record rise in crude-oil futures as well as comments by President Bush, who told a White House news conference that the United States is trying to discourage Turkey from sending troops into Iraq. Up and down 100 points throughout the day, the Dow Jones shed 20.4 points to end at 13,892.5, with 13 of its 30 component stocks in negative territory. The S&P gained 2.71 points to 1,541.24, while the technology-laden Nasdaq advanced 28.76 points to close at 2,792.67.
On this day in:-
1998 - Richard Bacon, presenter of the BBC TV programme 'Blue Peter' was sacked for taking cocaine.
1995 - Red Rum, the three times winner of the Grand National at Aintree, died at the age of 30.
1989 - With the end of Communist rule, Hungary was proclaimed a free republic.
1989 - An earthquake, measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale, killed more than 270 people in San Francisco.
1977 - German terrorist leader Andrew Baader and 2 other members of the Baader/Meinhoff terrorist group, comitted suicide.
1977 - German anti-terrorist troops stormed a hi-jacked Lufthansa airliner at Mogadishu Airport in Somalia, killing 3 of the 4 Palestinian terrorists and freeing all the hostages.
1968 - American athlete Bob Beaman set a new world long jump record of more than 29 feet during the Olympic Games in Mexico.
1963 - Prime Minister Harold Macmillan resigned.
1910 - The trial of murderer Dr Crippen began at the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London.
1887 - Russia transferred Alaska to the United States of America for $7-million.
1860 - British troops occupying Peking, China, looted and then burnt the Yuanmingyuan, the fabulous summer residence built by the Manchu emperors in the 18th century. China's Qing leadership surrendered to the Franco-British expeditionary force soon after, ending the Second Opium War and Chinese hopes of reversing the tide of foreign domination in its national affairs. In the 1870’s, Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi began rebuilding the palace and its stunning gardens, renaming it Yiheyuan, or Garden of Good Health and Harmony. In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, the palace was burned again by Western troops, and it remained dilapidated until the Chinese communists rebuilt it in the 1950’s.
1842 - The world's first telegraph cable was laid by Samuel Morse, across New York harbour from Governor's Island. It lasted only 24 hours because a 200 foot stretch was wrecked when a ship weighed anchor.
