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It's pass the parcel time at Sainsbury's

This article is more than 16 years old

Supermarket group J Sainsbury was in focus yesterday as dealers spotted a large tranche of shares had changed hands late on Wednesday.

About 44m shares were traded, prompting talk that the Qatar Investment Authority had added to its 25% stakeholding by buying shares from the entrepreneur Robert Tchenguiz. An alternative tale had Tchenguiz converting some of his 10% stake into contracts for difference. Sainsbury's, which ended 9.75p higher at 380p, refused to comment on "market speculation".

The rest of the food retailers were also moving in the right direction ahead of the expected publication today of the Competition Commission's report on the supermarkets. Tesco added 3.25p to 403.25p while Morrisons rose 5.75p to 304.5p.

Overall the leading shares closed virtually unchanged, with the FTSE 100 index down 0.8 points at 5879.3. Early gains were wiped out after a downbeat assessment of the US economy by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke left Wall Street about 100 points lower by the time UK traders headed home.

Banks were under the cosh again after a £5.72bn fourth quarter loss at UBS and Bradford & Bingley's write-offs. B&B slipped 0.5p at 186.5p, after Wednesday's 23% drop. But others were harder hit yesterday as the nervousness spread, with HBOS down 34p to 631p and Alliance & Leicester 15.5p lower at 543.5p.

Buy-to-let specialist Paragon, which is in the middle of a £287m fundraising, has also suffered the fallout from B&B. Its shares fell 6.75p to 106.75p yesterday and its nil-paid rights lost 6p to 7p, despite the company's directors announcing they would take up their rights. Some traders believe the company, with net assets worth about 200p a share and the rights issue fully underwritten, may have fallen too far.

Property shares dropped back after a downbeat note on the UK real estate sector from Goldman Sachs.

Goldman has removed British Land, down 39p to 969p, from its buy list and reduced its price target from £13.70 to £10.62. It has cut Hammerson, 33p lower at £10.52, from 990p to 870p and Land Securities, off 44p to £15.53, from £15.32 to £12.01.

Among the housebuilders, Barratt Developments lost 15p to 383p on vague talk of a possible rights issue. However, this is believed to be wide of the mark.

But miners were wanted. The continuing strength in the platinum price lifted Lonmin 79p to £33.59 and Aquarius Platinum 84.5p to 786.5p. Anglo American added 69p to £30.94 on suggestions Rio Tinto - under siege from BHP Billiton - may turn its attention to the company. Rio rose 55p to £55.55 while BHP was 24p better at £15.66. Xstrata climbed 72p to £38.52 after talk that Glencore had been offered £48 a share for its 35% stake.

Vedanta Resources was 50p better at £20.04 after it decided to exercise its option to buy a 28.4% stake in Zambia's Konkola Copper mine from ZCI Holdings.

BT added 5.5p to 231.5p as the European Union said the UK could scrap regulation of the broadband market in most of the country. The company also confirmed reports it had signed up to use an advertising system created by Phorm, up 300p to £32.12, as did Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse's Talk Talk division. Analysts at Investec issued a buy note on both BT and Carphone, down 6.25p to 313.25p, saying they could see the Phorm deal adding around £85m and £65m to BT and Carphone's revenues respectively.

Among the mid-caps, care homes operator Southern Cross rose 38.75p to 407p after an upbeat trading statement. The company's shares have been volatile recently, falling back after boardroom departures but recovering on talk of stakebuilding.

Electrical parts supplier Electrocomponents slumped 11p to 182.5p as it reported slowing sales growth in the four months to January. Investec issued a sell note, saying: "We continue to believe there is a growing risk to the held dividend, given it is uncovered and the economic backdrop is deteriorating, and are maintaining our target price of 168p."

Leisure group Ladbroke rose 9p to 321.25p on market talk of a possible 370p-a-share private equity bid, while rail repair group Jarvis was 3.25p better at 16.25p after an upbeat trading statement. The company recently revealed it was due a £6.5m tax rebate, and expects to receive the money by the end of the month.

Intercede, which specialises in smartcard and identity software, jumped 11.5p to 36.5p as it announced a number of new contracts including a substantial three-year order from the government.

Australian energy company Altona Resources rose 19% to 5.5p after Homeland Energy Corporation, a privately owned South African group, increased its holding in the company to 15.6%.

Reassuring data

Telecity, the data centre group, has continued its recent strong run, and was up another 13p to 245p yesterday. Landsbanki analyst Dan Gardiner said that the increase followed news of better than expected results from quoted US rival Equinix, in which the company pointed to London as being a particularly strong market. Gardiner said: "Telecity's shares have been highly volatile recently. We believe this statement [from Equinix] which shows no evidence of a slowdown and raises guidance, should offer reassurance." The upbeat outlook from Equinix also helped lift hosting and web services group Iomart by 4p to 41.5p.

nick.fletcher@theguardian.com

Market Forces Live at: blogs.theguardian.com/markets

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