LONDON, Mar 10 (Reuters) Britain's top shares fell slightly on Friday, as miners dipped following a ratings downgrade for Anglo American.
But bid speculation -- one of the key drivers behind the FTSE 100's recent surge to near five-year highs -- propped up the market, lifting shares in airports operator BAA, bank Standard Chartered and insurer Prudential.
By 1219 GMT, the FTSE was 6.2 points lower at 5,849.7 points.
The index has lost about 10 points since last Friday's close but leapt to its highest level since June 2001 on Monday at 5,924.5 points and fell as far as 5,790.9 on Wednesday.
Such volatility has injected caution into the minds of equity investors, with many starting to question the veracity of some of the bid stories circulating trading floors.
''We are making a short-term top around these levels,'' said Investec strategist Roger Cursley.
''Since the end of last year we have had a enormous amount of corporate activity -- O2, P&O, BOC-- and that has generated a lot of bid premium in prices. It would not take much for us to give up 100 points just on those.'' Weakness in miners, which had contributed much to FTSE losses this week due to falling metals prices, returned to the market after Morgan Stanley reversed its rating on Anglo American to ''underweight'' from ''overweight''.
''Details from the 2005 results suggest management has lost momentum, and that 'new Anglo' is going to look disappointingly similar to the old -- which should have been left far behind,'' Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in the accompanying research note.
Anglo fell 1.1 percent, Rio Tinto dipped 1.3 percent and Antofagasta lost 0.9 percent.
BID CHATTER SUPPORTS But copper miner Kazakhmys bucked the sector trend, leaping 3.5 percent on talk it was about to diversify into another metal, possibly through an acquisition.
Further offsetting FTSE weakness, bid speculation pushed shares in BAA, Prudential and Standard Chartered higher, dealers said.
BAA shares fell almost 7 percent on Thursday on talk Spanish construction group Ferrovial would not bid for the UK firm, as had been expected.
But the stock bounced to the top of the FTSE leaderboard, gaining 3.5 percent as dealers cited Spanish media reports that a bid was still on the cards.
Shares in Standard Chartered were also boosted after investment bank Citigroup increased its earnings forecasts, dubbing the Asia-focused bank ''one of the world's most attractive banking assets''.
Britain's biggest property Web site Rightmove dashed nearly 20 percent higher as investors rushed to buy into its IPO on its London debut. For more on this story, please click on.
But more gloomy news for the high-street added to concerns about the health of the UK consumer when Britain's biggest bakery chain Greggs warned of flat sales and said this year's profit would be eroded by high power costs.
Its shares shed about 11 percent.
REUTERS SY HS1845
But bid speculation -- one of the key drivers behind the FTSE 100's recent surge to near five-year highs -- propped up the market, lifting shares in airports operator BAA, bank Standard Chartered and insurer Prudential.
By 1219 GMT, the FTSE was 6.2 points lower at 5,849.7 points.
The index has lost about 10 points since last Friday's close but leapt to its highest level since June 2001 on Monday at 5,924.5 points and fell as far as 5,790.9 on Wednesday.
Such volatility has injected caution into the minds of equity investors, with many starting to question the veracity of some of the bid stories circulating trading floors.
''We are making a short-term top around these levels,'' said Investec strategist Roger Cursley.
''Since the end of last year we have had a enormous amount of corporate activity -- O2, P&O, BOC-- and that has generated a lot of bid premium in prices. It would not take much for us to give up 100 points just on those.'' Weakness in miners, which had contributed much to FTSE losses this week due to falling metals prices, returned to the market after Morgan Stanley reversed its rating on Anglo American to ''underweight'' from ''overweight''.
''Details from the 2005 results suggest management has lost momentum, and that 'new Anglo' is going to look disappointingly similar to the old -- which should have been left far behind,'' Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in the accompanying research note.
Anglo fell 1.1 percent, Rio Tinto dipped 1.3 percent and Antofagasta lost 0.9 percent.
BID CHATTER SUPPORTS But copper miner Kazakhmys bucked the sector trend, leaping 3.5 percent on talk it was about to diversify into another metal, possibly through an acquisition.
Further offsetting FTSE weakness, bid speculation pushed shares in BAA, Prudential and Standard Chartered higher, dealers said.
BAA shares fell almost 7 percent on Thursday on talk Spanish construction group Ferrovial would not bid for the UK firm, as had been expected.
But the stock bounced to the top of the FTSE leaderboard, gaining 3.5 percent as dealers cited Spanish media reports that a bid was still on the cards.
Shares in Standard Chartered were also boosted after investment bank Citigroup increased its earnings forecasts, dubbing the Asia-focused bank ''one of the world's most attractive banking assets''.
Britain's biggest property Web site Rightmove dashed nearly 20 percent higher as investors rushed to buy into its IPO on its London debut. For more on this story, please click on.
But more gloomy news for the high-street added to concerns about the health of the UK consumer when Britain's biggest bakery chain Greggs warned of flat sales and said this year's profit would be eroded by high power costs.
Its shares shed about 11 percent.
REUTERS SY HS1845
Oneindia Login