The takeover speculators changed sector today and set their sights on real estate giant Hammerson. The company's shares jumped 105p to £16.73 after a report that private equity group KKR was preparing an approach, with traders talking of a bid of £19.00 a share.
US firm Vornado Realty Trust was also said to be interested, according to a report in The Business magazine.
Hammerson's shares have been lifted recently by takeover speculation, and this was not dampened down by comments by the company last week at its annual meeting which seemed to suggest it would be up for sale at the right price.
Other property companies benefited, with British Land up 22p to £14.98 and Land Securities climbing 12p to £19.92. Liberty International was also higher, up 17p to £12.47. Among the mid-caps Minerva added 11p to 423.25p, Great Portland Estates 14.5p to 731.5p and Shaftesbury 11p to 708p.
"Dealers are likely to continue to buy every stock on the mere rumour of interest and longer term holders of stock will be more than happy to see speculation rise in their portfolios," said Simon Denham of Capital Spreads. "The prices being paid in private equity/ M&A activity are so far above current levels that it seems almost worth having a small punt in virtually every UK FTSE 100 stock merely on the off-chance of speculation arising."
However, yesterday's punts in the mining sector went into reverse today.
Rio Tinto, which was said to be in the sights of rival BHP Billiton with a supposed takeout price of £42 a share, slipped 121p to £35.39 while BHP lost 44p to £12.05. Other miners were also in retreat. Vedanta Resources fell 48p to £13.72 and Antofagasta - which missed out on yesterday's fun after a downgrade from ABN Amro - fell another 22p to 541p.
But to prove Denham's point, directories group Yell rose 12.5p to 497.5p on vague private equity talk, while insurer Friends Provident jumped 16.25p to 210p on talk that France's Axa could be interested in bidding.
Overall the market had been nervous ahead of the noon decision by the Bank of England on interest rates. In the event the Bank did what everyone expected and raised rates by a quarter percentage point to 5.5%, a six-year high. The FTSE 100 fell back after the news and - with an attempted rally nipped in the bud after Wall Street fell back in early trading - it closed down 25.5 points at 6524.1.
Tate & Lyle regained some ground after yesterday's news the company was in talks to sell half its European starch and sweetener business to France's Syral for £200m-£220m.
There had been some initial disappointment at the price, and the fact that the company was not selling the whole business. But today ABN Amro said there were several positives in selling just half. The bank has raised its target price from 650p to 725p and reiterated its buy recommendation.
Evolution Securities said the company was undervalued. "[Tate] is becoming a focused value-added business which warrants a premium rating, hence our buy recommendation and 820p price target," said Evo.
Tate added 5p to 657.5p.
Elsewhere Babcock International rose 53.5p to 531p after it agreed to buy Devonport, the dockyard which refuels nuclear submarines, for £350m. Balfour Beatty and Weir both moved higher after they sold their stakes in the dockyard to Babcock. Balfour edged up 1.5p to 486.5p while Weir climbed 11p to 662p, helped by UBS lifting its price target from 700p to 740p.
Lower down the market McBride, Europe's largest maker of private label household good products, rose 11.5p to 246p after Deutsche Bank began coverage with a buy recommendation and a 300p target.
Telecoms group Vanco added 6.25p to 479.5p as analysts welcomed news the company had signed a four-year preferred supplier deal with T-Systems, the business customer division of Deutsche Telekom. Killik & Co said the news reinforced its buy rating, while Dresdner Kleinwort repeated its buy rating and 575p price target.
A day after an upbeat trading statement, medical group Asterand added 0.625p to 6.375p after announcing a collaboration agreement with pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb.
But mining group Aricom slumped 9.25p to 69p after it unveiled plans to raise $500m with a placing of 351m new shares and 117m warrants. The company also proposes to move from Aim to the full list this year.
Finally cake maker Inter Link Foods fell 0.5p to 130.5p. The company has received an unsolicited approach from Irish baker McCambridge but has just seen the finance director it had appointed decide not to join the company. Today investment management group Tilney announced it had shaved down its stake to 0.99%.
Marketing company Retec Digital rose 0.5p to 3.75p after news it is supplying new-style kiosks for Alliance Boots' Advantage cards. The kiosks, developed in conjunction with IBM, will be rolled out across 500 stores across the country.
Finally Central African Mining, the exploration group chaired by former England cricketer Phil Edmonds, fell 4.25p to 51p. The company has run into controversy over its operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the country's vice minister of mines Victor Kasongo reportedly criticising Camec's corporate governance. The company issued a statement saying it had made a significant contribution to the DRC and added: "[We have] always adhered to best practise in alignment with international corporate governance standards and believes the allegations made are totally without foundation. Camec has instructed its lawyers to contact Mr Kasongo asking for clarification of his comments."
Camec said the allegations may have come following a dispute over its plans to mine on its 50% owned concession at Mukondo. It is also facing criticism over its purchase of 22% of Canadian listed miner Katanga, which also operates in the DRC. Katanga said this week it would ask the Ontario Securities Commission to block any further purchases, with analysts suggesting Camec is aiming for a full takeover. But Camec said it had "built up an investment position in what it believes to be a well run copper cobalt play in the DRC".