Gossip puts Chartered on run

DEALERS who suggested that the weakness in

Rumours were rife that it is about to buy Nedcor, the troubled South African banking subsidiary of Old Mutual, 1p cheaper at 94p. SC already has a huge presence in emerging markets but chief executive Mervyn Davies is keen to expand into South Africa.

Nedcor's trading performance has continued to disappoint. It warned in November it would make a loss for 2003 because of red ink from its investment portfolio and problems with the integration of smaller rival, Board of Executors, which it bought in 2002.

Parent Old Mutual had to provide a £18m loan to prop up its balance sheet in December and would like to wash its hands of it. With due diligence said to be complete, SC is ready to buy South Africa's third-largest bank, with assets of more than 250bn rands, at a knock-down price.

Shrugging off widespread talk that UK interest rates are set to rise by 0.25% to 4% on Thursday, the Footsie traded 20 points higher at the outset. But it soon drifted gently lower to close 9.3 points off at 4381.4.

An erratic Wall Street soon retrieved a 53-point deficit to trade 38 points higher. Early weakness followed slightly disappointing economic data and President Bush's forecast of a record $521bn budget deficit in 2004. Sterling slipped to $1.8177, while the euro held at 68.3p and $1.2410.

Terrorism and bird flu worries left British Airways flying low 12 1/2p lower at 292 1/2p. Intercontinental Hotels shed 13 1/2p to 526 1/2p as investors checked out for the same reason.

Mobile phone giant Vodafone lost 2p to 135 1/2p on worries it is planning a £17bn bid for AT&T Wireless of the US. Rival mmO2 buzzed 2 3/4p higher to 84 1/2p on continuing talk of a bid from Hutchison Whampoa and hopes for good subscriber numbers tomorrow.

News that chairman David Jones had earned £2.6m last week by selling 200,267 shares at an average price of 1289p made fashion group Next lose 14p to 1272p.

Mothercare cheapened 15 1/2p to 357p despite describing a weekend report of disastrous children's clothing sales as 'totally inaccurate'.

With Royal Bank of Scotland's ardour believed to be cooling by the minute and other prospective buyers not prepared to pay a premium price for Prudential's 79% stake, internet bank Egg cracked. The shares closed down 12p at 175p.

Oil explorer Cairn Energy gushed 92 3/4p to 697 3/4p after confirming a major oil strike in India. Drilling tests on a discovery in the state of Rajasthan had been successful.

Music giant EMI moved up the FTSE-250 charts with a gain of 8 3/4p to 223 3/4p. Turnover swelled to almost 16m when dealers heard that Wellington Management, one of America's oldest investment management firms, has acquired 23.7m shares, or 3%.

Electrical equipment group Dowding & Mills jumped 3 1/4p to 12 1/2p, reflecting stakebuilding by company doctor Tudor Davies.

News of a bid approach and speculation that its take-out price will be about 245p per share helped support services group Peterhouse soar 22 1/2p to 197p.

Fundamental-e Investments firmed 3/8p to 5 1/4p after acquiring Europass Telecom, a supplier of premium and discount rate telephone calls in the UK and Spain.

Enterprise gained 14 1/2p to 316 1/2p after its joint venture with Liverpool City Council tied up a £60m social-housing maintenance contract.

Placed on Aim at 20p, Central Asian gold miner Palladex sparkled with an opening premium of 5p at 25p. Renewed speculative support lifted African Diamonds 6 1/4p to 46 1/2p.

Rumours of an announcement left Bioprogress 3 1/2p higher at 76p.

AIM-LISTED financial PR firm Hansard is worth watching at 12p. Word is entrepreneur David Newton and leading small-cap investor NCL Investments have taken stakes of 10% and 5% respectively in a £175,000 placing at 10p per share. They have obviously identified the significant growth potential for Hansard in what has been a thriving small- to medium-cap market over the past nine months or so.