It is a big day for the UK's utility companies, what with the energy white paper and all.
So it was appropriate that Drax, the owner of Europe's largest coal fire power station, should be among the top risers in the leading index. In fact, that rise was due less to the white paper and more to an upbeat note from Deutsche Bank, which raised its targe from 850p to 950p and repeated its buy rating. Despite the bank's optimism, traders believe Drax could be in danger of losing its place in the top index next month, to be replaced by Barratt Developments following the housebuilder's takeover of rival Wilson Bowden in February.
Nonetheless Drax climbed 25p to 820.5p, while other power companies were also wanted. Scottish & Southern Energy added 26p to £15.25 after Citigroup issued a buy note, while United Utilities rose 4.5p to 780p. British Energy was 6.25p better at 588.25p despite news that its Heysham 2-7 reactor suffered an unplanned shutdown this morning. Again there was a positive analyst note, this time from UBS which raised its price target from 55p to 600p.
On the water front, Kelda Group climbed 29p to 1001.5p on continuing speculation of a possible takeover. This was partly fueled by Merrrill Lynch suggesting the business as a prime target for a leveraged buyout. There has also been vague speculation thought Kelda could be predator rather than prey, with rival Pennon mentioned as one target. Pennon climbed 34p to 691p, despite some doubt about the veracity of the tale.
Back at Barratt, the housebuilder slipped 5p to £11.05.
The biggest mover in the leading index was Vodafone, up 5.3p to 149.9p. Dealers said there was some relief among investors that the company seemed to have missed out on buying France Telecom's Orange business in Holland, which looks like it is going to Deutsche Telekom. Even news that the European commission had backed a move to cut the cost of using mobile phones abroad failed to dent the Vodafone share price.
Traders said Vodafone was also buoyed by the recent $25bn private equity offer for US wireless carrier Alltel, as was Cable & Wireless, up 4.9p to 186.7p ahead of full year results tomorrow, and BT, 8.75p better at 326.5p.
So by the close the FTSE 100 had added 9.8 points to 6616.4, despite today's Bank of England minutes showing that all nine members of the monetary policy committee voted for a rate rise earlier this month. The pound rose against the dollar and the euro, on the basis that the minutes made another rate rise more likely.
Richard Snook, economist at the Centre for Economic and Business Research, said: "Despite the Bank of England never moving interest rates by 50 basis points in a month since independence in 1997, the minutes reveal that this move was considered, but rejected.
"Overall, the unanimous vote and consideration of a larger hike in rates signal that a further 25 basis point rise in the cost of borrowing is likely in the latter half of this year."
Over at EMI there was some excitement after the New York Post reported that Andrew Regan's Corvus Capital and former chief executive Jim Fifield were planning a joint bid to top the agreed offer from Terra Firma. Corvus later admitted it had actively considered making an offer for EMI but decided against it once Terra Firma made its move. EMI added 2p to 273p while Corvus edged up 0.75p to 25.5p. Traders said Corvus had four or five opportunities in its sights at any one time.
But mortgage lender Kensington slumped 71.5p to 489p after it said it was in advanced takeover talks, but the price would be below this morning's 560.5p a share level.
Among the fallers, both sugar group Tate & Lyle and inter-dealer broker Icap suffered after issuing their results. Tate lost 40p to 605p as caution over the growth prospects for its sucralose sweetener Splenda outweighed a 14% full year profit rise.
Icap fell 2p to 528p on concerns about the effect of recent dollar weakness on its US profits. Even so, full year figures saw a 23% profit rise, more or less in line with analysts expectations.
The London Stock Exchange slipped 8p to £13.49 on a suggestion it might be looking to link up with Deutsche Börse, although traders were sceptical.
Elsewhere more brokers notes had an influence.
Gyrus, the keyhole surgery firm, climbed 27p to 515p as JP Morgan began coverage of the company with a overweight rating and a 575p price target, while food equipment maker Enodis was 10.5p better at 208.75p. Credit Suisse upgraded from neutral to outperform and upped its price target from 220p to 250p. "Having received three bid approaches over the past year we believe there is limited downside risk at this juncture," said Credit Suisse.
Media group Euromoney Institutional Investor added 30p to 689p, a seven year high, after UBS upgraded the shares from neutral to buy and increased its target from 650p to 750p.
But Durex condom maker SSL International fell 11.5p to 431.5p as Credit Suisse cut from outperform to neutral.
Back with takeover talk, mining giant BHP Billiton rose 7p to £12.13 on reports from Canada suggesting it was in talks with Alcan to help the latter fend off a hostile $27.6bn bid from US aluminium rival Alcoa.
Xstrata added 49p to £28.25p after more developments in the takeover battle for Canada's LionOre Mining. Russia's Norilsk Nickel has now put in a $6.3bn bid for LionOre, topping Xstrata's offer by 10%.
Lower down the market Blinkx, the video search engine spun out of Autonomy, continued its impressive market debut, adding another 2p to 65p.
System C Healthcare climbed 4p to 35p after the NHS IT supplier said profits for the year would be at the top end of market expectations, while business education group ILX rose 23p to 79.5p on news it had won a number of major contracts.
Finally Vislink, the broadcast equipment supplier, slipped 1.75p to 82.75p despite an upbeat annual meeting statement.