Market report: Friday close

THEY must have been raising a glass or two at

'I like cider' is the quote splashed across several of today's national newspapers. S&N became Britain's biggest cidermaker barely a month ago, when it paid £278m for troubled HP Bulmer, which makes Strongbow.

It is now hoped the Prince's comments will spark a revival for the drink. Big increases in revenue charges over the years meant it had lost much of its appeal with youngsters looking to enjoy themselves on a cheap night. But the S&N share price was lifeless today, 4p lighter at 382 1/2p after broker Merrill Lynch downgraded from neutral to sell. It is worried about currency movements and poor margins. Rival Merrydown was steady at 61 1/2p.

London brewer Fuller, Smith & Turner sparkled with a rise of 22 1/2p to 532 1/2p after producing a strong set of results for last year despite tough trading conditions. The London Pride and ESB brewer saw profits grow 10% to £16.4m.

Despite a strong opening for the Dow on Wall Street, the FTSE 100 plunged back into negative territory in the last half-hour of trading, having been briefly ahead earlier in the afternoon. It closed down 35.5 at 4048.1.

Abbey National rallied from an opening fall to extend this week's impressive gains with a rise of 2 1/2p to 505p. This was in spite of broker ABN Amro downgrading the bank on valuation grounds from buy to add. But one trader added: 'They don't want to go down. Every time they dip below 500p, the buyers come in.'

Rolls-Royce stood out with a rise of 13 1/4p to 123 3/4p on turnover of more than 50m shares. Brokers say the share price is subject to a chart breakout which has brought the buyers in.

Microchip designer Arm Holdings put on 2 1/2p to 76 1/2p as more than 40 million shares changed hands. Dealers point to the hi-tech Nasdaq market in the US which is trading at its highest level for a year.

This week's support for J Sainsbury has boiled over leaving the price 8 1/4p down today at 270 3/4p. US investment bank JP Morgan has begun coverage with an underweight recommendation and 230p target price. It warns the supermarkets operator will be the worst placed of all the food retailers, whatever the outcome of the bid battle for Safeway, down 5 1/4p at 268 3/4p.

Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline fell 35p to 1205p. Broker UBS Warburg has repeated its neutral rating but decided to slash its 12-month target price from 1330p to 1200p.

Computer services group LogicaCMG fell 1 1/4p to 138p after US broker Citigroup Smith Barney downgraded its recommendation from outperform to in-line on valuation grounds.

Jarvis was another faller, down 13p at 298p, as the support services group continued to ponder the official report into the Potters Bar train crash, which revealed widespread failures in inspection and maintenance regimes. That also dragged rival Balfour Beatty 1 3/4p lower to 196p.

ITE was steady at 41 1/2p despite former chairman Lawrie Lewis's sale of 1.47m shares, reducing his stake in the company to 30.47m shares, or 10.83%.