Bolt from the blue

OILS gave a slick performance following Anglo-Dutch giant

More than 86m Enterprise shares were traded. It responded to Shell's 725p-a- share cash bid by gushing 106p before closing 100p higher at 729p. Shell firmed 5p to 528p.

Other perennial bid favourites in the sector sprang to life on hopes that more deals will flow. Cairn Energy, the largest foreign explorer in India, jumped 18 1/2p to 301p, Premier gained 1p to 22 3/4p and Tullow 3 1/2p to 106 1/2p. Edinburgh Oil & Gas improved 5 1/2p to 142p and JKX Oil & Gas 1 1/2p to 24 3/4p. Ofex-listed Texas Oil & Gas firmed 1 3/4p to 14p. Promotion to Aim is on the agenda, while third-quarter figures will be released before the end of the month.

Profit-taking in New York overnight and early yesterday saw Wall Street open a further 97 points down. Its dull performance left the Footsie 20.4 points off at 5251.4.

Many fund managers decided to extend their Easter break, while others were non- committal ahead of tomorrow's decision on UK interest rates. The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee is expected to leave rates on hold at 4%.

British Airways nosedived 15 1/2p to 228 1/2p. Higher oil prices mean increased costs for the struggling airline. US rival Continental Airlines has also said that making a second-quarter profit will be 'challenging' if revenue remains weak and fuel prices keep rising. easyJet lost 19p to 530p.

Financial information giant Reuters advanced 20 1/2p to 562p on reports that it is considering buying out minority investors in Instinet, its electronic share trading service.

Construction giant Taylor Woodrow rose 13p to 209p following bullish noises from Deutsche Bank. Compass, the catering group, enjoyed a tasty gain of 14p at 484p. WestLB Panmure upgraded its 2002 pretax profit forecast by £5m to £665m following a pre-close season meeting with the company. Its target price is 595p.

Aim-listed steakhouse restaurant group Gaucho Grill sizzled with a rise of 6p to 18p after receiving a bid approach that could lead to a cash offer of around 20p a share. Medisys added 5 1/4p to 71p after appointing engineering group Smiths (4 1/2p up at 815 1/2p) as its co-marketing partner for its Futura Safety Syringe and certain other safety products.

Renewed selling hit Acambis. It fell 29 1/2p before closing 15p easier at 324 1/2p. January's peak was 379p. Investors baled out again after rival drugmaker Aventis said on Friday it will donate about 90m doses of smallpox vaccine free of charge to the US government.

Altium Capital says that the US government will still honour its contracts with Acambis and Baxter to produce 209m of smallpox vaccine. The broker says that the current storm, arguably of the teacup variety, provides a great buying opportunity.

Biofocus shed 12 1/2p to 292 1/2p after Teather & Greenwood placed 695,020 shares at 290p with institutional investors on behalf of some founder management shareholders. Vendors included chief executive David Stone, who sold 131,077. A Brown Shipley recommendation following encouraging results helped Surgical Innovations harden 3/4p to 2 3/4p.

Software specialist Izodia rose 4p to 52 1/2p after revealing it had received approaches in recent months, but had rejected all of them as having not been in shareholders' best interests.

Heavily indebted hotels group Queens Moat Houses edged up 3/4p to 16 3/4p. Jack Petchey's Isle of Man investment vehicle, Trefick, received acceptances for 22.8m shares, or 5.82%, in its recent 14p-a-share tender offer. It now holds 6.1% of QMH.

A Deutsche Bank recommendation and director purchases helped Woolworths firm 1/2p to 47p. Chief executive Trevor Bish Jones bought 416,666 and finance director Chris Rogers 303,030 at 44p.

AIM-listed computer software provider Pilat Technologies jumped 2 1/2p to 9p. Buyers logged on after Pilat said it is aiming for profitability in the current year following the demerger of its media software business was completed in February. It is now focusing on the development of its personnel performance management business and hopes to exploit the huge potential that exists in the UK and US.