LONDON (ShareCast) - Footsie has given back most of the morning's gains despite bid speculation pushing up Royal Sun Alliance and growing anticipation that the $700bn US bail-out plan will be passed.

RSA Insurance jumped after Henri de Castries, the chief executive of Axa, RSA's largest shareholder hinted it would use the current financial market turmoil to strengthen its position in coming months. Other insurers moved up in sympathy led by Aviva and Prudential.

Royal Bank of Scotland leads banks higher on hopes that the $700bn mortgage bail-out will be ratified after President Bush issued a stern warning about the consequences for the US financial system if it does not go ahead.

HBOS is also up though Lloyds TSB is under pressure after Deutsche Bank downgraded it to "sell" from "hold," saying the HBOS deal would make funding more difficult and increase exposure to property lending.

News that the OFT is publish its own view on the deal even though the government has already said it will have the final say also unnerved investors a little.

ITV rose as media regulator Ofcom came out in support of its plans to chop back its regional news and current affairs content, reviving bid talk as well.

Cruise operator Carnival is going well on the lower crude price, which also sends oil explorer and producer Cairn Energy into the red.

Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) expects adjusted results for the full year to be at the lower end of current market forecasts due to the worsening economic conditions. A faster-than-expected deterioration in the advertising environment for DMGT did not deter Citigroup from keeping its ‘buy’ rating on the newspaper group.

United Utilities is on course to deliver results for the six months ending 30 September in line with expectations, according to a statement released Thursday.

Private equity firm 3i saw realisation proceeds drop in the five month ended August, but said its investment and realisations have been broadly balanced so far this year, in line with expectations.

JP Morgan has kept its ‘underweight’ rating on technology firm Smiths Group after lowering its earnings estimates on the company following yesterday’s full year results. The broker alluded to Smiths’ sales targets, which were based on a macro-economic environment consistent with that of recent years, an ‘overly optimistic view of the world’, JPM said.

Stockbroker Collins Stewart tumbled as it confirmed that it is no longer in bid talks with Japanese bank Nomura.

Landsbanki has lifted its target price on human resources consultant Penna to 150p from 120p after the human resources consultancy said full year results would be ahead of expectations.

New business continues to roll in at supply chain solutions provider Wincanton prompting the company to predict full year results will be in line with management expectations. The company is seeing some pressure on working capital which it intends to address in the second half.

Tough comparative for the previous year and the effect of its rolling refit programme continued to hamper nightclub owner Luminar during the final six weeks of its half year. Like for like sales at the 74 clubs that make the total dancing business fell 2.4% in the six months to 28 August, but were up by 2.1% at the 48 branded dancing units.

Profits got a boost at Highland Gold Mining during the first six months of 2008, rising five fold as gold revenue leapt by 77% to $73.7m on sales of 81,036 ounces.

Suit retailer Moss Bros said like for like sales fell 2.6% as it leaves out an interim dividend payment. Pre-tax losses widened to £2.2m for the 6 months to 26 July 2008 from £796,000 while revenue fell to £61.1m from £62.9m before following the closure of two stores and as like for like sales declined.

Document management software provider Invu saw losses rise as it ploughed extra funds into product development. Pre-tax loss in the six months to 31 July widened to £685,000 from £35,000 a year earlier as administrative expenses rose from £1.6m to £2m.

Material technology firm Dyson said its performance in terms of pre-tax profit and debt levels for the five months to August is running slightly better than anticipated, but added that it expects the second half to be softer than the first.

Garden products maker William Sinclair expects profits in the 15 month ended September to be significantly lower than forecasts due to the adverse weather conditions. The final dividend will also be significantly below last year’s final dividend of 2.5p per share.

Canary Wharf property owner SongBird Estates saw the value of its portfolio drop by 9.6% but said it will weather the current turbulent times and benefit from the eventual market upturn.

Air conditioning and pump hire group Andrews Sykes almost doubled half year profits as it focused on markets that rely less on the weather and those with less exposure to the economic slowdown.

Property developer Bulgarian Property has been boosted by an upgrade in the valuation its Bulgarian property portfolio. The value of the company’s portfolio on a current value basis rose 9.4% to €82.09m at the end of June 2008 compared with a value of €75.02m on 12 December.

Sugar and baking ingredients supplier Real Good Food posted widening losses during the first half and warned that full year results are expected to around £1m lower than market expectations.

Internet domain name management firm Group NBT says its business has thus far remained immune from the effects of the economic downturn.

Insulation group Superglass expects profit for the year ended 31 August 2008 to be in line with current market forecasts but said it cannot be certain that expectations for the year ending August 2009 will be achieved.

Clean fuel technology firm Oxford Catalysts is talking up its chances of beating management revenue expectations for the full year after they rose 82% in the first half.

Half year profit at advertising agency M&C Saatchi more than doubled as it signed more contracts and is confident full year results will be in line with company expectations.

Accounting, business and tax advisory group Vantis said it continues to perform in line with expectations despite the unfolding credit crisis. Some areas of the business have proved very robust in these markets, it added, with its Business Recovery business in particular seeing an increase in activity.

Sales at Zetar are up about 10% in the year to date, but the snack foods group warned that challenging trading conditions and volatile currency markets make it hard to predict the outcome for the year.

• News Channel