Shares in housebuilder Crest Nicholson slipped 1.5p to 612p today as shareholders awaited bid developments.
To recap, a joint venture between banking group HBOS and Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter made a 585p a share offer before Christmas, but this was rejected by the company.
Five o'clock today was a Takeover Panel deadline for the team to come up with a revised bid, and just in time - although after the market closed - came the news investors wanted.
The HBOS/Hunter vehicle Castle Bidco has put in an indicative offer worth 629.7p a share, including a final dividend of 9.7p. Crest said it had started talks with the bidders and would recommend the offer if it was confirmed. As a result the panel has extended its "put up or shut up" deadline to 28 February.
Elsewhere, it being a Friday, there was the usual spate of takeover speculation.
Home Retail Group added 8.25p to 417.25p on suggestions of an offer from, yes, private equity. Traders were sceptical any move would come before the retailer updates the market on the key Christmas period. Some said the price rise was due more to a report this morning that HRG's Argos division was close to signing a joint venture to set up stores in India.
Intercontinental Hotels was 35p higher at £12.26 as word went round once more of a possible offer, with US group Starwood one name in the frame. Again private equity and a Middle Eastern outfit were also mentioned.
None of this speculation had much effect on the FTSE 100 index, which hovered in negative territory nearly all day.
However the index ended up 8.9 points higher at 6239.0, with virtually all the increase due to BP. The oil giant had itself been in the red most of the day. But a surprise announcement just before the market closed that chief executive Lord Browne would step down 18 months early turned things around.
BP closed 9.5p higher at 546.5p, accounting for 8.8 points of the FTSE 100's rise.
Mining shares were hit by continuing weakness in the copper price, which dragged down other base metals. Antofagasta lost 5.5p to 468.5p after Deutsche Bank cut its price target on the company from 510p to 490p as part of a wider review of the sector.
Another faller was British Airways, down 7p to 551p on fears of a growing conflict with unions over its pension proposals.
Alliance & Leicester slipped 9p to £11.46 after news it was entering the highly competitive car insurance market, while satellite TV company BSkyB fell 3p to 552p after Dresdner Kleinwort began coverage of the company with a sell recommendation and 450p target. At the same time the Office of Fair Trading said it was looking into Sky's purchase of a 17.9% stake in ITV, up 0.25p at 109.5p.
On the results front a major casualty was music group EMI, down 19.25p to 245.25p after poor Christmas sales prompted a profit warning and the departure of two top executives including Alain Levy, chairman and chief executive of EMI Music. Collins Stewart analysts suggested its debt levels meant a rights issue could not be ruled out.
Engineering group Charter issued a trading statement indicating profits were in line with forecasts, but this disappointed the market and its shares fell 37.5p to 871p. Panmure Gordon cut its target price from £10.10 to 975p and reduced its recommendation from buy to hold. "The twin pressures of foreign exchange and a slowing Chinese power market are containing the upside surprise," said Panmure.
Carphone Warehouse went the other way, up 1.75p to 324.5p after the mobile phone retailer said it was on track to meet analysts' full year forecasts, although its broadband connection numbers came in lower than expected. Traders said Morgan Stanley was placing 34m shares at 324p-327p a share, but the stake is believed to belong to a fund manager rather than any of the management.
Consumer goods giant Unilever was 19p better at £14.09 as it confirmed that Ericsson and Electrolux boss Michael Treschow would become its new chairman in May.
Lloyds TSB rose 10p to 593p on talk that Cazenove had upgraded the bank, while pharmaceuticals business AstraZeneca added 45p to £28.81. Bear Stearns issued an upbeat note, saying recent falls made the shares look cheap against Astra's expected future earnings, and it put a £33.00 target on them.
Drax, which owns Europe's biggest coal-fired power station, was also boosted by a broker's note. It climbed 22.5p to 735.5p after ABN Amro raised its recommendation from sell to hold.
Newspaper group Daily Mail & General Trust added 10p to 762p despite Lehman Brothers cutting its target price from 909p to 827p and its recommendation from overweight to equal weight. It said full year results were better than expected but added: "There do not appear to be any signs to date of strong recovery in the the newspaper advertising market, leading us to take a more cautious longer term view."
But Morrison Supermarkets dipped 3p to 283p as traders said UBS was placing 27m shares at 285p each. However Deutsche Bank today issued a note raising its target price on the supermarket group from 295p to 320p. "We are confident that top line growth in the [stores converted from Safeway] and cost savings progress will drive higher levels of mid-term growth," said Deutsche.
Yesterday's shock interest rate rise by the Bank of England continued to hit the housebuilders, despite their attempts to shrug off the effects of dearer mortgages. Barratt Developments lost 4p to £12.00 even though it issued an upbeat trading statement and said previous rate rises had made little impact on the number of people visiting its show homes.
Rival Bellway told shareholders at its annual meeting that it was on track for a sixteenth consecutive year of organic growth, but its shares still fell 14p to £15.02.
Lower down the market, stockbroking group Bridgewell fell 5p to 103p after chief executive Rennie McConnochie stepped down and the company warned 2006 profits would be hit by the cost of paying bonuses to retain key staff.
ReNeuron added 1.75p to 40p as the stem cell specialist said it was confident it could deal with issues raised earlier this week by US regulators concerning its treatment for strokes.
And drug development group Henderson Morley saw its shares double, up 1.55p to 3.05p, as it announced it was in the late stage of negotiations about a collaboration with an Aim-listed life science company.
Finally, Israeli software group Orca Interactive jumped 5p to 20p after it revealed a bid approach although it cautioned that negotiations were at an early stage.