Shares gained mid-afternoon, boosted by a positive start on Wall Street and renewed M&A interest with heavyweights ICI and BAA amongst the blue chips in focus.


The FTSE100 was 23.4 points higher at 6,069.1 with the FTSE250 up 6.3 points at 9,960.9 and the AIM100 ahead 4.8 points at 6,195.1.

Volume was weak with just 2 billion shares changing hands in 207,783 deals.


Today’s look at individual Stocks:


BAA was up 1.5p at 836p after it confirmed a hostile £8.75bn all-cash bid for the UK airports group. The bid was led by Spain's Grupo Ferrovial, which launched an 810p a share takeover bid for the airport operator. The offer, which values the owner of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports at £8.75bn, is at the same level as the consortium's initial proposal, made on March 17th. The bid was immediately rejected by BAA, which said 810p a share

does not begin to reflect the true value of BAA's unique portfolio of airport assets.

ICI shares continued to top the blue chip leaders board with a 9p rise to 369.5p on renewed talk that US group Dupont could be lining up a bid for the chemicals group.


Ongoing old lady chatter also saw Barclays move higher again today, up 11.5p to 697.5p.


BAE Systems reversed early losses to trade 3.25p higher at 434.75p as investors digested confirmation the defence group is in talks to sell its 20% stake in Airbus to EADS.

Discussions are at an early stage and a further announcement will be made if and when appropriate

the UK defence company said.


Elsewhere on the markets, contract news provided Corus a lift up 1% to 91p a share after the steel group won a building supply order from Aspire Defence worth £92 million.


Heavyweight oil issues continued to lend support to the weak markets today, lifted by an upgrade in sector stance by UBS. UBS said BP and Royal Dutch Shell were among its top sector picks. Shares in the oil majors then jumped 14p higher to 687 and 29p higher to 1,947 respectively, while BG Group added 7p at 744.


On the downside today, Severn Trent fell 25 at 1,162 after the utility group said this afternoon its water business may have given incorrect data to industry regulator Ofwat about its handling of customer enquiries. Severn Trent said it is giving Ofwat an interim report into what it described as 'misreporting' of customer relations data by subsidiary Severn Trent Water.


The Portfolio


A mix bag today from the portfolio. Tullow Oil (TLW) shares were up 17p at 361p after Citigroup lifted its price target to 350p from 288p while retaining its 'hold' rating.
Burren Energy (BUR) went up 13p higher to 966 after the shares were initiated with a 'buy' rating by Citigroup with an 11.65p price target.

CSR (CSR) was unchanged at 12.60p.

Fenner (FENR) was down 0.9% to 210p