Market report: Friday close

INVESTORS dug deep for

Today's deal to export Australian coal to Mexico at the recordbreaking price of A$82 a tonne reflects high commodity prices in general.

More importantly, its proposed £2.9bn hostile takeover of Australia's WMC Resources, if successful, would please markets.

As blue-chips drifted in thin trade, Xstrata, up 18p at 942p, was by far the strongest performer.

Its exposure to the South African rand and Australian dollar also helps, say analysts, adding that exposure to anything other than the ailing US dollar is a plus point.

Indeed, without any major news stories the market was left to dwell on the impact of a falling dollar which at one point touched record lows against the euro before bouncing slightly.

Some pundits suggest the greenback could fall as low as 2.30 to the pound, which would hurt big dollar earners such as Pearson, down 3 1/2p at 624 1/2p.

The FTSE index was 11.9 points down at 4741.5. Trading was expected to remain light with Wall Street opening for only half a day following the Thanksgiving holiday.

The threat of an Office of Fair Trading investigation into market domination by the big four supermarkets barely disturbed investors today - they know we have been there before.

J Sainsbury was up 2 1/4p at 264 1/4p while Safeway owner Wm Morrison shed just 1p to 224 3/4p. Tesco, one of yesterday's strongest performers after it unveiled strong quarterly figures, gave up 3 1/4p to 305 1/2p, but this was due to profit-taking.

The call for a new inquiry comes from pressure groups representing small suppliers, environmentalists and corner shops.

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell slipped 1p to 447 1/4p after saying it would delay next year's annual general meeting and a crucial vote on consolidation by two months because of ongoing uncertainty about its reserves estimates.

William Hill, down 14 1/4p at 513p, was damaged by negative comments from broker Cazenove, which suggested an unusually large number of recent winning football and horseracing favourites was hurting the betting industry.

Cigarette manufacturers continue to lose ground as the prospect of a ban on pub smoking looms. Lambert & Butler brand maker Imperial Tobacco drooped 1p to 1368p, Silk Cut producer Gallaher was 1p lower at 733p and BAT, which makes Rothmans, was down 1/2p at 881p.

There was precious little movement in the mid-caps, with the hottest action outside the FTSE 100 coming on the junior Aim market.

Former dotcom darling QXL ricardo announced it had agreed a management buyout backed by Boston-based private equity group Great Hills Park at 700p a share, valuing the online auctioneer at £11.9 million. QXL shot up 193 1/2p, or 40%, to 671p. While the deal reflects a 113% premium to its share price before takeover talk began, it is a world away from the £1.5bn the company was worth at the height of the dotcom boom.

Rok Property Solutions climbed 25p to 406p after winning a larger chunk of Royal & SunAlliance's domestic insurance repairs contract and an exclusive deal to provide all building repair services to the insurer's commercial property clients. The contracts, for a minimum of three years, are expected to generate more than £100m of additional revenue.