Shares gave up early gains to trade just marginally ahead, maintained by a well-received trading update from oil major BP and on-going old lady M&A chatter, with Smith & Nephew the latest target.


At high noon, the FTSE100 was just 1 point higher at 6005.7 with the FTSE250 up 9.8 points at 9,902.1 and the AIM100 28.8 points up at 6,100.3.

Volume was moderate with 1.175 billion shares traded in 139,670 deals.


Today’s look at individual Stocks:



BP improved today up 5p at 669.5p, after the oil giant's trading update pleased investors, offsetting a decline in crude oil prices overnight.

Excluding volumes from its Russian joint venture TNK-BP, output in the first quarter is expected to be around 3.035 million boepd as against 2.995 million boepd in the fourth quarter of 2005.

There's a progressive return of the production affected by (hurricanes) Rita and Katrina

said a BP spokesman.


The 150,000-boedp Mars platform at the Gulf of Mexico alone remains shut, with partial production expected to resume by mid-2006. Full production will be restored in the second half.BP owns a 28.5% stake in Mars, which was damaged by the storms. Royal Dutch Shell owns 71.5%. BP's share of production from TNK-BP is expected to be approximately 990,000 boepd in the first quarter, up from 960,000 boepd a year ago but down from 1.027 million boepd in the fourth quarter. BP said its 460,000-boepd Texas City refinery remains shut in the first quarter, though the phased re-commissioning has started at end of last month


Moving away from oil and onto commodities. The mining sector was lifted today with Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton both showing gains of 73p to 3,117p and 17.5p to 1139.5p, respectively, with upbeat comments from Merrill Lynch also providing good support.
Following comments from Credit Suisse who argued that the sector did not deserve to trade on a single-digit PE ratio, given the visibility of the cycle seems to be extending well into 2007 or even 2008.

In the rest of the sector, Antofagasta added 66p to 2,273p, Xstrata gained 47p at 1,987p and Anglo American moved 38p higher to 2,365p, once again all hitting new record highs.


Smith & Nephew remained up 8.5p at 524.5p, as talk that US peer Biomet was putting itself up for sale re-ignited sector consolidation talk. The US group is reported to have hired Morgan Stanley to help consider strategic alternatives, including a possible sale.


J Sainsbury was up 3.75p at 337.25p after it reclaimed the number two spot in the UK supermarket league table according to the latest data from research group AC Neilsen.
Panmure Gordon repeated its buy stance and 400p target. Supermarket Tesco was 1.25p higher at 329.5p.


DSG rebrands Dixons as Currys.digital. European electrical retailer, DSG International, said it is to shift its Dixons brand in the UK to focus exclusively on e-commerce operations, with its 190 existing Dixons high street stores to be re-branded 'Currys.digital'. The move means that the Dixons name will end its 69-year presence on the UK high street. DSG said Dixons' existing e-commerce operation has risen on average more than 50% year-on-year sales growth over the last four years.

DSG was up 1p at 185.5p.


Pennon Group was also a strong performer this Wednesday, up 47p at 1,401p, after The Independent reported Spain's Grupo FCC is considering a bid. The paper said FCC has renewed talks with the group and is now considering a bid for the whole company after previous interest in its waste management operations.


In stark contrast, easyJet slumped 33.25p to 324.75p on confirmation Icelandic investor FL Group is selling its 16.9% holding in the low-cost airline.


Gcap was also down 2.75p at 218.75p, the company was out of favour after Merrill Lynch reinstated coverage with a 'sell' recommendation.


The Portfolio


The portfolio continued its gains today with a huge lift from the number 1 stock CSR (CSR) the stock was up 5.20% to 1214.00 an increase of 60.00 per share!
Also, Burren Energy (BUR) continued to climb back up to its all time high, giving us a rise of 0.36%, 3.50 per share to 983.50

The risky oil play, Victoria Oil and Gas (VOG) climbed 1.88% a change of 4p per share to 216.50. We are awaiting a report on the drilling of well 106, which is due any time now.
On the downside today Marchpole (MPH) was down 4.49% to 21.25.



The full list of portfolio stocks shall be discussed a length next week. Giving targets, stop loses and the reasons for buying each share.