Major shareholders selling out was one of the themes of the day yesterday.
PartyGaming was the biggest faller in the FTSE 100 as four founders cashed in some of their chips, to a lack of enthusiasm. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein had intended to place 350m shares at 119p-120p, dealers said, but this was cut to 200m at 116p. Other investors followed the founders' lead, and shares in the world's largest online gaming company closed 4.5p lower at 117.75p.
There was a more severe fall at plant hire group Ashtead, where Morgan Stanley placed 28m shares - 7% of the company - at 175p on behalf of investment group Aegon. Traders said Aegon had supported the company since its shares slumped in 2003 after poor trading, and decided to bank profits it had made since. The company is believed to be upbeat about prospects, with results due this month. Even so the shares lost 16p to 175p, the biggest faller in the FTSE 250.
Overall, leading shares struggled to find a clear direction, but with an opening rise on Wall Street the FTSE 100 closed near its peak for the day, up 36.5 points to 5706.3. Interest rate concerns still weighed heavily, and analysts said there was unlikely to be any serious recovery ahead of this month's rate setting meeting by the US Federal Reserve. Today's Bank of England meeting is expected to leave UK rates on hold at 4.5%.
Banks and media companies were among the risers yesterday. Lloyds TSB added 12p to 523p on vague bid talk, seemingly prompted by news the bank has appointed Lehman Brothers to replace Hoare Govett as its joint corporate broker. Dealers suggested this could be to bolster its defences against an unwanted offer, perhaps from the US. Standard Chartered was also tipped as a takeover target and rose 17p to £12.83.
BSkyB led the media stocks higher, up 18p to 550p on hopes for its planned broadband service after Tuesday's upbeat comments from Carphone Warehouse on the subject. Magazine group Reed Elsevier was 17.5p better at 539.5p on talk of a positive presentation to Merrill Lynch, while Pearson benefited from a positive note from Morgan Stanley. The analysts put forward a radical set of proposals including selling the Financial Times for £650m and returning £500m to shareholders. Pearson rose 17.5p to 730p, against Morgan's 800p target price.
GlaxoSmithKline added 29p to £15.17. The company is setting up a joint venture with Belgian-Dutch biotechnology firm Galapagos to develop drugs for osteoarthritis, with Glaxo eventually expected to make an equity investment in its partner. Glaxo also confirmed to Reuters it was interested in Pfizer's consumer healthcare business, up for sale for around $15bn, "at the right price".
Diageo, the spirits and Guinness group, added 23.5p to 917.5p as Deutsche Bank moved its recommendation from hold to buy and increased its target from 900p to £10. Morgan Stanley was also positive, saying the company was a safe place to be in the current market uncertainty. On Monday Merrill Lynch had made similarly upbeat noises.
But miners continued their decline, with Vedanta among the FTSE 250 losers for the second day running. A 60p fall in its share price to £12.25 hardly seemed a fitting celebration for the company's elevation to the top 100 index, confirmed yesterday.
Vodafone slipped 0.75p to 122.5p as dealers heard vague rumours that Arun Sarin might be about to step down from his chief executive position.
National Express added 3.5p to 777p but Go-Ahead lost 8p to £16.92 as the two transport groups were among four companies shortlisted for the London Rail Concession, which includes the North London line and an extended East London line.
Among the smaller companies, a positive annual meeting statement lifted outsourcing firm Mears 2.5p to 277.75p.
On Aim, SRT - Software Radio Technology - is worth keeping an eye on, according to traders.
The company, which listed in November, next week announces its maiden results, which will be better than the forecasts provided at the time of the flotation. The company, which designs and markets microchips, will also receive a boost over coming months as it signs several crucial contracts. SRT, bought out of Securicor after the dotcom crash, has two main areas of focus: chips for secure mobile phone handsets used by military and civil services such as the police; and chips for marine craft identification systems.
While the first of those sectors - based on the Tetra standard - is expected to provide significant revenues towards the end of the year, especially because the business has contracts with the Chinese government, it is the latter unit that is going to produce some fireworks over the coming months.
In May SRT raised £4.25m to fund the development of chips for marine identification systems - which effectively make ships at sea as identifiable as aeroplanes in the sky - and it is understood to be close to several major, and lucrative, contracts. SRT was steady yesterday at 50.5p.
Fast developments
Photographic retailer Jessops held a dinner for analysts on Monday, after the management's annual trip to Japan to meet suppliers. The Jessops team said camera technology was developing so quickly in terms of bigger viewing screens, faster shutter speeds and longer battery lives, that equipment bought even a couple of years ago looks almost obsolete.
Nick Bubb at Evolution said the company has a 34% share of digital SLR cameras and was well placed to benefit from the new products. In the short term, trading is likely to be quiet with consumers preferring to buy flat screen TVs for the World Cup. The shares have drifted from a 132p high which followed last month's half-year results. Evolution rates them a buy with a target price of 155p. Yesterday they edged up 1.75p to 116.75p.