Manic Monday for go-it-alone London

TASTY takeover situations - either actual or rumoured - helped the week get off to a strong start. With

They needed inspiration to set the ball rolling and got it in the shape of Taylor Woodrow's agreed £480m bid for rival housebuilder Wilson Connolly and France Telecom's £4.4bn offer for the

13.8% of mobile phone group Orange it does not own.

Juicy corporate activity always sets pulses racing and the fact that more and more acquisition-hungry companies are willing to put their money where their mouth is suggests that economic recovery is now well under way.

Those hopes were buoyed by betterthanexpected UK manufacturing data from Britain and the eurozone.

The UK's manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 51.9 in August from 51.1 in July, its highest since May

2002. The eurozone's PMI was 49.1 in August, up from 48.0 in July.

The Footsie jumped 61 points before boiling over to finish 43.3 higher at

4204.4. Sterling eased to $1.5698, while the euro improved to 69.8p and $1.0965.

Housebuilders went through the roof on hopes for further mergers. Barratt jumped 15 1/2p to 534 1/2p, Berkeley 24p to 913 1/2p, Bovis 13p to 476p, Persimmon 20p to 592p, Westbury 22p to 452p and Wimpey 9p to 399p.

Insurers shrugged off the prospect of rights issue with Thursday's interims from Royal & SunAlliance (5 1/2p up at 144p).

Prudential gained 21 1/2p to 458p after Morgan Stanley moved to overweight. Aviva advanced 13p to 514 1/2p.

Almost 121m Legal & General were traded and the close was 3 3/4p higher at 103 1/4p.

Revived bid speculation left Britannic 16p to the good at 278 1/2p.

Edinburgh Fund Managers gained 12 1/2p to 84p on talk of a bid from Aberdeen Asset Management, 4p dearer at 57p.

Buyers dosed up with drugs giant AstraZeneca, 72p better at 2502p. after news that Exanta, a blood clot drug currently being tested, significantly reduced the risk of death or recurrent heart attacks in patients who have already suffered a coronary. Atacand, a blood pressure drug, also can help save the lives of chronic heart failure sufferers.

GlaxoSmithKline rose 29p more to 1236p as it continued its share buybacks.

Music giant EMI sang out with a rise of 4 1/4p at 159p following reports that it is planning to launch a bid for AOL Time Warner's music operations. EMI is definitely interested.

Revived German bid hopes lifted Lastminute.com 12 1/2p to 288 1/2p.

A Credit Suisse First Boston buy note and target price of 700p lifted licensing company BTG a further 60 1/2p to 372p. CSFB values Varisolve, its treatment for varicose veins, at 520p per share.

Talk of imminent upbeat news on its Caijiaying prospect in China and a Charles Stanley recommendation helped Griffin Mining rise 17/8p to 207/8p. Stanley thinks Caijiaying could turn into a world class mine.

Texas Oil & Gas firmed 1 1/2p to 13 1/4p on whispers of bullish news in the pipeline.

Support services group Peterhouse slumped 54p to 229 1/2p on a shock profits warning.

Pendragon eased 1p to 216 1/2p after selling its stake in rival motor dealer Ryland at 160p a share, or £14.2m.

Pursuit Dynamics improved 13 1/2p to 70p after signing a 90-day exclusive agreement with a leading confectionery manufacturer to trial its innovative process technology.

AFA Systems dropped 3p to 20p. The provider of software solutions said its pretax loss of £1.7m was largely unchanged for the first half due to continued difficult markets. Sales fell to £2.85m from £3.14m.

Continuing to reflect recovery hopes following Evolution Beeson Gregory's recent placing of a large overhang of stock, Host Europe hardened 0.05p to 13/8p.