Nationwide's Virgin Money swoop blasted by Aussies: Bank's biggest independent investor 'disappointed' with board agreeing £2.9bn takeover
TONY HETHERINGTON: Boss behind firms fined £340k for more than 1.4m nuisance calls is unmasked
Cash in on the Northern property boom as our experts reveal the university city that offers landlords a huge 14% annual return
Councils that ban you from car parks if your vehicle is TOO LONG: Five now have length restrictions as most authorities say they've no plans to extend bay sizes
86-year-old's woes with a faulty smart meter that sent his bills soaring show why so many people are shunning them, writes JEFF PRESTRIDGE
Gerald Seymour has written 40 pacy thrillers, but big screen success hasn't materialised: 'Hollywood silly money? I'd only have stuffed it under the bed!'
British businesses awash with 'accidental' bosses who have received no formal training, recruitment firm warns
Gold is seen as a solid investment in times of turmoil - experts share their 24-carat advice on how (and when) to get involved
MIDAS SHARE TIPS: Why it soon won't be hip to give the cold shoulder to Smith & Nephew
FTSE 100 hits an all-time high - but remember the stock market adage of 'sell in May and go away' says HAMISH MCARE
North Sea projects worth £21bn put at risk by Labour: Tax threat to British jobs and investment
Rachel Reeves wants to banish the idea that Labour is anti-business, but where is the 'white heat' revolution to revive Harold Wilson's glory days?
Helium and hydrogen company set to join stock market in boost for City
CITY WHISPERS: Bill Ackman's cerulean eyes charm 'Woodstock' crowd at Berkshire Hathaway
Should the Bank of England have cut interest rates instead of holding firm? The This is Money podcast
Households with emergency savings pots rises substantially in recent years - five financial trends revealed in new research
Families with TWO retired generations will surge to one million in a decade: Savings have to stretch further if you want to help out your loved ones
'My oven is redundant': Almost half believe ovens will be obsolete as air fryer craze shows no signs of slowing
Some sneaky estate agents only putting forward offers from buyers who use their in-house mortgage broker
From Victorian to Regency, the five most popular types of period property currently for sale revealed
Bank of England holds interest rates at 5.25% for sixth time in a row - what it means for YOUR mortgages and savings
When will interest rates fall? Forecasts on when base rate will be cut - and what borrowers and savers should do
How much would a rate cut save you? Use our interest rate rise or fall mortgage calculator
We're financial experts - this is how you can use your Isa and pension to grow your wealth in the new tax year

Market report: Yesterday's trading

By Geoff Foster for MailOnline
Updated: 04:36 EDT, 27 October 2006

View
comments

ITV, the City's very own soap opera, hit the early headlines when it announced it would not be commissioning a ninth series of the successful Larkhill prison drama Bad Girls.

The shock news dragged programme maker Shed Productions 10½p lower at 111p, but ITV just marked time at 105p. Dealers reckon it will probably continue to do so until a replacement for chief executive Charles Allen can be found or a hungry private equity buyer slaps a bid on the table.

Rumours were again doing the rounds that a 'dream team' of Stephen Carter, the retiring boss of regulator Ofcom, will soon be appointed along with Kevin Lygo, Channel 4's director of programming, as programming director.

Shareholders are getting impatient and want a decision soon and who can really blame them. How long does it take?

ABN Amro took the bull by the horns and advised clients to buy. It believes shareholders should be optimistic because its highly probable that the Office of Fair Trading will review ITV1's airtime sales regime CRR in 2007. ITV has a strong case for relaxation or removal of the regulation. If removed completely, discounted cash flow would increase to 140p. The prospect of a CRR review could also trigger renewed private equity interest.

Up a further 30 points at the outset in response to Royal Dutch Shell's (43p better at 1832p) excellent third-quarter profits performance, the foraging Footsie suddenly found itself under the influence of drugs and closed 29.8 points lower at 6,184.8.

It was dragged lower by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, 267p down at 3262p after announcing it has stopped the development of NXY-059, a stroke drug. The news overrode better-than-expected third-quarter profits and raised fears about the group's drugs pipeline.

Soon after rival GlaxoSmithKline fell 60p to 1451p after accompanying Q3 figures with news that trials of diabetes drug Redona have been put on hold following unfavourable preliminary clinical data and a sepsis drug's development has been discontinued. Definitely not what the doctor ordered.

There was no stopping the FTSE 250 though as it raced 39.6 points ahead to close at a record 10,465.

FTSE INFORMATION

Check out the latest data and updates from the stock market.

Impressive third-quarter profits from European rivals French Telecom and Norway's Telenor helped British Telecom buzz 3p higher to 277¾p. Fund managers also like BT's tasty 5% yield. Mobile phone giant Vodafone gained 1¼p to 132¾p on hopes that next month's interims could spark a healthy run up to Christmas.

Bullish comments from Bridgewell lifted fund manager Rathbone Bros 57p in a thin market to 1183p.

Housebuilders erected good gains amid revived consolidation chatter. Crest Nicholson, in which Gerald Ron's Heron International still sits on 23.4pc, rose 7p at 562½p. Upmarket builder Berkeley added 33p at 1482p and Barratt Developments improved 22p at 1094½p.

Hard on the heels of former private equity guru David Fife's appointment as chief executive, electronic payment services group Earthport soared 5½p to 25p after extending its network by joining the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. SWIFT is an industryowned cooperation that supplies messaging services and software to around 8,000 financial institutions in 206 countries. Spanishbased estate agency Medsea edged up 1p to 18p. It has signed a four-year contract with Residencial Argos Sol, to market all properties on a new development in Murcia.

The decision to erase the word 'Gaming' from its name and change to The Media Corporation helped Gaming Corp firm 1p to 6p.

Following its merger with Lord Ashcroft's AIM-listed investment vehicle Seashell II, Digital Marketing Group commenced trading on AIM. Placed at 57p the shares closed at 64½p. The day's other newcomer Brulines, the leading provider of volume and revenue protection systems for draught alcoholic drinks in the UK licensed on-trade, closed 10½p above the placing price of 123p.

Bug buster Byotrol jumped 4p to 69½p after winning two contracts for its superbugkilling cleaning agent to protect the residents of care and nursing homes across Britain.

River Diamonds edged up 0.3p to 1.05p after chairman Colin Orr Ewing bought 500,000 shares at 0.875p and 100,000 at 0.09p. Finance director Kiran Morzaria acquired 547,000 shares at 0.09p.

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.