A FRESH burst of takeover speculation, coming on top of the good recovery on Wall Street overnight and the US market's opening strength yesterday, helped the equity market recoup much of the ground lost on Wednesday.
The day's most influential news came from across the Atlantic, where a bigger than expected fall in US housing starts in September and a rise in weekly jobless claims prompted a firm opening by US Treasury bonds, which in turn lifted the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Market makers said buyers had returned to the market, with many taking the view that there was a strong possibility of a good run towards the end of the year.
Among the big Footsie winners were the brewing giants Whitbread, Bass and Scottish & Newcastle, after they were given a strong push by a number of leading brokers, while the pick-up in US bonds and renewed takeover speculation were powerful driving forces behind Guardian Royal Exchange, the composite insurer.
The big takeover story of the day centred on Zeneca, the drugs group, whose shares spiralled upwards amid renewed talk of a bid from Roche.
Turnover in equities came out at a very respectable 740.1 million shares, split evenly between Footsie and other stocks. Customer business on Wednesday was worth £1.6 billion. Tradepoint, the order-matching dealing system, enjoyed its most active trading session since its start-up just over a year ago and included a single deal of 5 million Asda among its trades yesterday.
