A smattering of bid speculation at BT and Standard Chartered failed to lift spirits today, and with Marks & Spencer and GlaxoSmithKline disappointing investors, leading shares ended in negative territory.
BT added 10.5p to 317.75p, making it the biggest riser in the top 100. The talk was of a private equity bid, or leveraged buyout, despite the company making it clear last week no offers had been received. Traders also said the company was benefiting from the recent $25bn bid for wireless carrier Alltel in the US from Texas Pacific.
As for Standard Chartered, it added 42p to £16.44 on revived talk of a £21 a share bid. Citigroup had been mentioned as one possible interested party.
But the negative outweighed the positive and the FTSE 100 index was 30.2 points lower at 6606.6 by the close.
Among the main fallers Marks lost 35p to 703.5p by mid-afternoon despite reporting a 28.5% rise in full year profits. This was definitely a case of buy on the rumour sell on the fact, and investors decided to bank their profits. There was also some slight disappointment the headline profit figure fell short of the much trailed £1bn figure, and some caution after chief executive Stuart Rose warned of a "more challenging" retail environment.
Panmure Gordon advised clients to sell saying: "This is a good set of numbers but we believe M&S will have to run hard to show strong growth in future years. Our sell recommendation is based around slowing sales momentum, combined with improving momentum elsewhere in the sector."
As for Glaxo, it fell another 19p to £13.71 in the wake of yesterday's US study which suggested its diabetes medicine Avandia increased the risk of heart attacks. Glaxo has disputed the study, but US politicians and regulators have already waded into the dispute.
Deutsche Bank cut its rating from buy to hold and its target from £17 to £15.30.
But Citigroup - desite saying its Avandia forecasts were under review pending any action by the US Food and Drug Administration - kept its buy rating on the shares. Citigroup said Glaxo had supplied an unpublished interim analysis of Avandia to the FDA, adding: "Pending analyses and with no specific risk, the FDA has not asked Glaxo to take any action."
Credit information group Experian lost 18p to 585.5p on profit taking after last week's rise fuelled mostly by a bid for US rival Acxiom.
And British Airways fell 13.5p to 466.5p as it confirmed it was joining a consortium led by private equity group Texas Pacific to bid for Spain's Iberia.
Moving higher was Alliance & Leicester, up 36p to £11.83 after UBS began coverage with a buy rating and £14.40 target. The bank said A&L, which was said to be a target for France's Credit Agricole last year, looked like a reasonable bid target.
UBS said: "We believe the company's strong brand, extensive distribution network, young customer base and 3.5% UK market share make it a strategically attractive asset.
"On a stand-alone basis, we value A&L at £11.77. However, we calculate A&L could be worth £17 on a take-out basis. Using a 50% probability of a bid for modelling purposes, we arrive at our £14.40 price target."
Directories group Yell added 16p to 505p following full year figures, and pubs business Mitchells & Butlers, 20.5p higher at 898p , was also wanted after half-year figures and an update on its property plans.
Among the mid-caps maintenance firm Mitie added another 14.25p to 271.25p in reaction to yesterday's results, while an upbeat note from Citigroup lifted drinks group Britvic by 13p to 388p.
There was some excitement in the technology sector. Computer services group LogicaCMG slumped 16.25p to 164.25p after it issued a profits warning, but software business Autonomy jumped 15.5p to 764p as it spun off its video search business Blinkx. Blinkx shares were placed at the top end of the intial suggested range, at 45p each, and had climbed to 63p by the afternoon.
Radio group GCap Media rose 12.25p to 255.25p as Merrill Lynch raised its recommendation from sell to buy, but cake group Inter Link Foods slumped 15p to 107.5p after Dublin banker McCambridge said it may withdraw its proposed bid approach to the company, since it had not been allowed to conduct due diligence properly.
Insurance group Admiral added 14p to 991p on vague talk of a £12 a share offer.
One bid which did appear was a management buyout for travel specialist CNG Travel Group. CNG shares added 4.5p to 12.5p compared with the 14.5p in cash on offer from the management.
Among the mining minnows Tanzania Gold rose 6p to 87.5. The company issued an upbeat statement about its sampling programme at the Mkurumu Project in Tanzania.
Finally Serviced Office Group, which provides office space to businesses and has former Sally Line boss Michael Kingshott as chairman and entrepreneur Tom Farmer as a main shareholder, added 0.75p to 11.5p after unveiling a £50m property joint venture with UBS. The funding will allow SOG to target bigger properties than before and accelerate its expansion plans. The company also unveiled full year results showing revenues up 47% and profits up 43% to £970,000.