Argonaut could fly if Potter movie is magic

THE long-awaited world premiere of Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone takes place in London on Sunday prior to the £90m movie's general release on 16 November. It is expected to gross millions at box offices at home and abroad.

One boss of a small company is keeping his fingers crossed that the film will live up to all the hype and be a blockbuster this Christmas. Jez San, chief executive of Argonaut Games, recently said that 'with a bit of Hogwart's magic, the computer game based on the film will literally fly off the shelves.'

The game will be released for PlayStation 1 and Nintendo Gameboy formats on 16 November. Substantial advance orders have already been taken. Argonaut plans to release the game for PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox next year.

It has been number one on Amazon's US and UK prerelease Top 10 chart for weeks. Argonaut will earn substantial royalties on the first tranche. It probably needs to sell 1m copies before it can return to the black this year. Rumours abound that advanced orders in the US alone already total 900,000.

Argonaut firmed 1 1/2p to 66 1/2p but could leave the year's high of 79p well behind if Harry Potter does weave his magic. Famous toy maker Hornby cheapened 5 1/2p to 234p but could also benefit if the film is a success. Hogwart Express train sets, priced at £100, could be a big seller this Christmas.

More than 123m shares in entrepreneur David Lloyd's MV Sports changed hands and the close was a fraction harder at 0.735p. Punters switched on to the fact that MV will unveil a new range of Harry Potter products from scooters, bikes, skates and skateboards to coincide with the release of the film.

Elsewhere, as if by magic, Wall Street shrugged off October's sharp drop in the National Association of Purchasing Managements' manufacturing index to the lowest level since February 1991.

Down 60 points initially, it recovered to trade 145 higher as dealers took it for granted that the weak data means the Fed will cut US interest rates by a further 1/2% on Tuesday.

The Footsie retrieved an early 51-point decline to close 31.5 higher at 5071.2 on expectations that Sir Eddie George and his chums at the Bank of England will reduce UK rates by at least a further 1/4% on Thursday.

The CBI reiterated its call for a 1/2% cut after producing a gloomy survey showing retail sales collapsed in October with clothing sales down for the first time in two years. Ignoring the data, Marks & Spencer firmed 7 1/2p to 294 1/2p and Next 19 1/2p to 888 1/2p.

A profit warning from Irish building materials group CRH (11/8 euros off at 16.04 euros) left Hanson 38p down at 433p, Aggregate Industries 7p at 80p and Wolseley 19p at 429p.

Sold down to 139 1/2p on confirmation that first-half operating profits will be 15% lower than before, although the full year would be in line with last year, engineer FKI rallied on reassuring comments from broker ABN Amro to finish 12 1/4p higher at 166 1/4p.

Dealers expect a rally in software group Redbus Interhouse after a big seller was cleared out. The close was 3p off at 11 1/4p on turnover of 6m.

EasyJet cruised 6 1/2p higher to 382 1/2p on late whispers that Stelios Haji-Ioannou has had a good response from institutions for his proposed placing of 26m shares to support the discount airline's expansion plans.

Stelios wants to raise around £90m to provide extra working capital and is offering around £60m worth of his own stake. The placing price will be revealed today.

Support services group Aggreko jumped 26p to 370p after UBS Warburg upgraded from hold to buy. Biotrace International advanced 10 1/2p to 91p on an upbeat trading statement and acquisition of Ruskin Technology for £1m. Biotrace has attracted unprecedented interest in its biological weapon detection products post 11 September.

Bioquell, which has invested significantly in recent years in developing new low temperature residue-free biodecontamination technology, including special cabinets for handling mail, rose 6 1/2p to 131 1/2p.