LogicaCMG poised to make comeback

HI-TECH stocks are bouncing back and

LogicaCMG, which has rebounded from a March low of 90p, has been a constituent before. It traded above £27 during the dotcom boom in 2000. Its happy return would crystallise the sector's strong recovery this year and growing market expectations that IT's will outperform next year.

Definitely flying back to the Footsie will be British Airways, 2 3/4p better at 227 3/4p. Now valued at £2.5bn, BA has been in and out like a fiddler's elbow over the past year - out twice and back in once. It narrowly missed promotion in September, but is red-hot favourite to return.

The end of the war in Iraq and the management's extensive cost-cutting has helped BA regain altitude after a March low of 86p. The last set of quarterly figures proved better than expected and analysts upgraded profit forecasts.

Champagne corks should also be popping in the Hays boardroom when it rejoins the elite. Up 1/4p at 128 1/4p, the company sold its logistics division to Platinum Equity for £102m and will concentrate on its core specialist recruitment business.

Drinks group Mitchells & Butlers (2 1/2p dearer at 235 3/4p) will be left with a Footsie hangover when it gets relegated, along with speciality finance group Provident Financial (24 1/2p up at 627 1/2p). Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust (2 3/4p better at 187 1/4p) could also fall through the trap door.

Drawing strength from Wall Street's overnight gain of 102 points and further early 37-point gain yesterday above the magic 10,000 level - for the first time in 18 months - the Footsie advanced above 4400 again before closing 19.8 points higher at 4379.6 ahead of news from the Fed on US interest rate policy.

Cruise ship giant Carnival steamed 93p ahead to 2160p after broker CSFB moved to outperform and raised its target price to 2675p from 2375p.

Bob the Builder to Thomas the Tank Engine media group HIT Entertainment soared 19p to 288p on vague whispers of a possible bid from US entertainment giant Disney.

Independent Media Distribution gained 5p to 65 1/2p on an upbeat trading statement. Second-half revenues are running about 30% ahead of last year, driven by a buoyant radio advertising market. Broker Bridgewell upgraded 2003 revenue forecasts by 5% for the second time in six months and remains overweight.

Trafficmaster accelerated 5p to 55 1/2p after Japanese car manufacturers Nissan and Mazda signed up for its Trackstar stolen vehicle-tracking product.

Gold Bullion Securities , which are gold-backed securities that enable investors to trade an interest in gold bullion, began trading on the main market. Some 8.2 million securities were traded, which equates to 820,000 ounces or 25.5 tonnes of gold.

Household products group Mayborn improved 23 1/2p to 223 1/2p after saying full-year figures will be materially ahead of market expectations.

Bioquell put on 6p to 97 1/2p on hopes it will soon land a significant hospital contract for its RBDS superbug busting product.

Earthport jumped 1/2p to 2 7/8p after revealing that its gaming subsidiary ensurePlay has won nine further contracts over the past three months through eCommerce Services UK - the first ensurePay reseller.

Aim-quoted Ringprop rose 7 1/2p to 397 1/2p following a positive annual general meeting.

Speculative buying on bid hopes and thoughts that the stock is undervalued helped Royal Doulton to shine at 7 5/8p, up 1 1/2p. Waterford Wedgwood owns 21.2% of the equity.

WEST African prospector Mano UK will today announce that it has raised more than £2m to support its joint venture with Golden Star to produce diamonds in Sierra Leone and gold in Liberia. In another sign of the latest gold rush, demand was so heavy that the fundraising had to be closed early. Six months ago the Aim-quoted group struggled to raise £600,000. Mano, tipped on these pages yesterday at 6p, closed at 6.87p.