Market report: Friday close

SPECULATION that billionaire entrepreneur Philip Green, whose retail empire includes Bhs, Wallis and Miss Selfridge, may want to add

Green recently failed to land supermarkets chain Safeway but, never one to rest, is believed to have set his sights on the troubled retailer. Insiders have also connected him in the past to bids for Sainsbury's, down 3 1/2p to 297 1/4p and Woolworths, 1p up at 41p.

There was also speculation of another round of consolidation in the housebuilding sector as share prices in 10 of them shot to 5-year highs.

The Chancellor's Budget generosity towards the sector and the Barker Report recommending up to 120,000 new homes be built in England each year also boosted sentiment. Westbury jumped 28p to a 5-year high of 505p, topping the FTSE 250 risers as it emerged a hot bid target favourite. More than a million shares changed hands.

Persimmon rose 28 1/2p to a 5-year best of 680p on volume of more than 2m shares and aroused City interest by appointing additional financial advisers. Redrow built up to its best since 1999 with a 22 1/4p rise to 406p.

Berkeley hit 1005p, up 38 1/2p, Wilson Bowden jumped 37p to 1166p, Bovis Homes rose 30p to 595p, Crest Nicholson gained 9p to 357p, George Wimpey added 11 1/4p to 435p, Bellway 16p to 807p and retirement homes specialist McCarthy & Stone 20p to 615p.

The Morgan Stanley-led consortium increased its bid for Canary Wharf to 292p from 275p sending its shares up 14 1/2p to 292 1/2p.

The 'double witching' expiry in futures and options contracts passed without too much volatility and the FTSE 100 remained positive, up 20.1 at 4418.

BAE Systems looks to have finally agreed a deal after 18 years of negotiations with the Indian government for the supply of 66 Hawk jet trainers worth £1bn. Its share advanced to 192p, up 2p.

Having rejected a bid from Dutch telecoms rival KPN, mainly in shares and pitched at around 108p, mmO2 has been the subject of much speculation that other bidders may emerge, such as Spain's Telefonica.

Today, Morgan Stanley upgraded the mobile telecoms group to overweight from equal weight, maintaining its 118p target. The shares climbed 3p to 102 1/2p.

Volume returned to normal at Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus after yesterday when almost 10% of its stock was traded. Sellers outnumbered buyers two-to-one after new of a fourth consecutive annual loss. Still, it cut the annual operating deficit to £66m from £393m. Today, some 48m shares changed hands on a 1/4p drop to 38 1/4p.

Aerospace and precision engineer Hampson Industries slid 3 3/4p to 20 3/4p after plans to raise £14.1m in a three-for-eight rights at 16p. Ongoing restructuring will cost an extra £2m in the second half ending this month.

Fund manager Old Mutual will take up its 52% share of its rights in South African banking arm Nedcor's 5-for-12 issue intended to plug a funding gap after a poor year. The move could pave the way for Old Mutual, down 1/4p to 96p, to increase its stake.

CSFB downgraded WH Smith to underperform from neutral ahead of maiden interims next month for chief executive Kate Swann. Its shares fell 7p before resting unchanged at 267p.