Market report: Thursday close

TBI has been cleared for take-off by City speculators. The shares are nudging their highest point this year at 69p, amid mounting speculation that French builder Vinci is set to make a fresh bid for the company, which owns Luton, Belfast and Cardiff airports.

Traders say there has been heavy turnover in the shares in recent weeks, leading to claims that Irish financier and betting man Dermot Desmond may have been topping up his 5% stake. Vinci's original recommended offer of 90p a share was made just before the 11 September terrorist attacks on the US. It then aborted the bid, citing its failure to gain 90% shareholder acceptance. In truth, Vinci wanted to reduce its offer, claiming TBI was worth less because of the impact of terrorism on airlines and airports.

Vinci holds 15% of the shares and is now coming to the end of its statutory one- year cooling off period, after which it is free to make another offer. But there have been many changes at TBI since Vinci dropped its bid. It emerged on Wednesday that bmibaby, the no-frills arm of bmi british midland, had chosen Cardiff as its second base. Two months ago, bmibaby announced plans to start flying out of East Midlands Airport, resulting in a 60% increase in turnover for the airport operator.

EasyJet, based at Luton, pulled out of its nosedive with a rise of 14p to 311p. Broker Merrill Lynch has raised its recommendation on the shares from 'buy' to 'strong buy' with a target price of 440p. Merrill blames the decline on the proposed acquisition of rival Go and the controversy stirred up by outgoing chairman Stelios Haji-Ioannou over discount airline safety issues and the robustness of their business plans.

Share prices generally clawed back some of Wednesday's losses, whichhad taken the market to its lowest since Labour was elected in May 1997. The vote by the Bank of England's monetary policy committee to put any interest rate rise on hold was widely expected. The FTSE 100 rose 78.6 points to 4471.2. Wall Street is closed for Independence Day celebrations and traders hope that will provide a breathing space for hard-pressed investors.

Among the leaders, GlaxoSmithKline rose 45p to 1345p. Broker UBS Warburg still rates the shares a 'buy' but slashed its 12-month target price from 1900p to 1570p. Warburg also rates AstraZeneca, up 30p at 2460p, a 'hold' but has reduced its target price from 3550p to 2800p.

Banks rallied, with HSBC up 21 1/2p at 751 1/2p as Commerzbank moved from 'reduce' to 'accumulate' on the shares and raised its target price from 770p to 822p. Dealers reported further heavy turnover in Cookson Group with the price rallying off Wednesday's lows, adding 8p to 43 1/2p. The price has been in freefall with the City worried about the prospect of a much-needed rights issue.

Anglo-Dutch publisher Reed Elsevier saw strong early gains reverse after reports out of Amsterdam that it had received a court summons in the Netherlands to explain its 2001 accounts. Up at 584 1/2p at one stage, the shares tumbled in afternoon trading before recoverin to end 4p at 560p.

Publicly quoted stockbroker Seymour Pierce gained 1/4p to 7p. It is strengthening its team with the appointment of AIM journalist of the year Dru Edmonstone. The editor of the AIM bulletin has been appointed Seymour Pierce's head of corporate broking and a main board director. Previously he was an analyst with Cazenove and head of corporate broking at former high flyer Durlacher, unchanged at 1 3/4p.

Prices and indices in this section are supplied from various sources and calculated at different times and may not always match those listed on the site.

These jitters could last for years

Geoff Foster of the Daily Mail on yesterday's trade
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