LONDON (ShareCast) - London finished the week on a sour note, with the leading index down on losses in the US, a poor banking sector and a big decline at BAE Systems on Saudi deal corruption concerns.

BAE Systems came under attack as pressure mounted on the Serious Fraud Office to reopen an investigation into the weapons and aerospace group. The High Court’s decision to drop a corruption enquiry into contracts with Saudi Arabia was illegal, a court ruled yesterday.

UK banks were also out of favour as credit crunch concerns rumbled on. Scare stories about Merrill Lynch and news that two lenders put up their mortgage rates yesterday despite the cut in base rates hurt stocks. Lloyds TSB and Barclays are the sector’s worst.

Wall Street woes also reflected on stocks over here, with General Electric sharply lower following weaker than expected first quarter earnings and reduced full year guidance. The Dow Jones-listed firm blamed its financial services business.

Blue chip heavyweight Vodafone attracted heavy selling, while Friends Provident dropped on talk that possible bidder JC Flowers is mulling whether to pull out because of the refusal of Friends to talk to it. Friends has rejected an indicative 150p offer from the private equity group.

Cadbury Schweppes melted despite a strong start to the year. Confectionery revenues are up 7% with revenues in the first quarter driven by excellent performances from gum and emerging market businesses and higher pricing. Americas Beverages sales rose by 3% benefiting from good growth in non-carbonate brands. The demerger remains on track.

On a brighter note, British Energy saw buying action on a report Electricité de France is drawing up plans for a full offer of more than 700p per share as the deadline for formal bids draws closer. Germany’s RWE informally submitted an indicative all-cash offer of nearly 700p per share some weeks ago. International Power is up in sympathy.

ITV did well after Credit Suisse issued a positive note on the group's advertising outlook. CSFB said ITV had seen a small improvement in the ad outlook for May.

Scottish and Southern Energy agreed with the government to provide further assistance to its poorer customers in the period to March 2011.

British Airways, which had planned to move its long haul services to Heathrow’s troubled Terminal Five at the end of the month, has postponed the transfer until June.

Broker AMEC rose in early trade after UBS upgraded the shares to 'buy' from 'neutral', while software group Sage fell after Citigroup reduced it to “hold”' from “buy.”

The Takeover Panel has given Eurasian Natural Resources until 16 May to make an offer for fellow Kazakh miner Kazakhmys or walk away.

Oil prices near record highs at $110 a barrel helped Tullow Oil and Cairn Energy both gain.

Market researcher Taylor Nelson has seen a good first quarter with better levels of business activity than last year and full-year expectations unchanged.

Trading Emissions has confirmed it made an approach to the board of Econergy on 27 March 2008 regarding a possible offer for Econergy. The basis of the possible offer was a share for share exchange at a nil premium. It says it made the announcement today after comments yesterday by Consensus Business Group about a possible tie-up with Econergy.

Software group nCipher has responded to press speculation by confirming that it has received a number of preliminary approaches that could lead to a bid being made for the company.

Software group Microgen is mulling an offer for Scisys after taking a large stake in the bespoke software systems provider.


FTSE 100 - Risers
Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,365.00p +3.73%
International Power (IPR) 432.50p +2.98%
Amec (AMEC) 741.00p +2.85%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 362.75p +2.47%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 688.00p +2.38%
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,390.00p +2.21%
Reuters Group (RTR) 610.00p +2.18%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 656.50p +1.78%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 412.25p +1.73%
Wolseley (WOS) 532.00p +1.72%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
BAE Systems (BA.) 475.00p -4.86%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 152.20p -4.34%
ICAP (IAP) 570.50p -3.63%
Friends Provident (FP.) 130.60p -3.55%
Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 418.25p -3.24%
Lloyds TSB Group (LLOY) 433.00p -2.97%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,080.00p -2.88%
Shire (SHP) 965.00p -2.87%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 914.50p -2.82%
Cobham (COB) 209.25p -2.79%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Petrofac Ld (PFC) 632.00p +7.67%
PartyGaming (PRTY) 20.75p +6.41%
JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 491.50p +4.91%
Debenhams (DEB) 60.25p +4.33%
ITE Group (ITE) 144.00p +3.60%
Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) 176.50p +3.37%
SSL International (SSL) 441.00p +3.28%
Melrose Resources (MRS) 338.50p +2.58%
Expro International Group (EXR) 1,278.00p +2.57%
3i Infrastructure (3IN) 113.25p +2.49%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Spirent Communications (SPT) 64.00p -5.54%
Bradford & Bingley (BB.) 167.25p -4.97%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 440.50p -4.96%
Shaftesbury (SHB) 541.50p -3.65%
Berkeley Group Holdings Units (BKG) 1,033.00p -3.64%
Quintain Estates & Development (QED) 434.25p -3.50%
Unite Group (UTG) 307.00p -3.38%
Bunzl (BNZL) 675.50p -3.36%
Mapeley (MAY) 1,295.00p -3.29%
easyJet (EZJ) 341.25p -3.26%

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