Market report: Thursday close

Big turnover was recorded today in shares of office rental group

More than 32m Regus shares were traded after a line of 12.5m went through at 76 1/2p. This was followed by a further two lines totalling 5.10m that went through at prices ranging from 68p to 72p.

Word is financier Robert Bonnier of Scoot.com fame has sold more than half of his 7.5% stake in order to reinvest the money in software specialist Innovation Group, where he has already accrued a 15% stake.

Most of his shares in Regus continue to be held in the name of spread bookie Cantor Fitzgerald through which he built up a 15% holding via a series of contracts for difference (CFDs).

He was diluted by Regus's £55m underwritten rights last November, launched after the group had put its troubled US subsidiary into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

It was at this point that Bonnier closed out his position in the CFDs. He is on record as saying he has no intention of bidding for Regus, control led by founder Mark Dixon with 46% of the shares.

The wider market failed to capitalise on last night's strong rise in New York, which took the Dow to a 22-month high. Prices in London traded in a narrow range, the FTSE 100 index was down 34.4 points at 4476.80.

Mobile phones operator mmO2 led blue-chips with a rise of 1 1/4p to 83 1/4p. House broker Cazenove has raised its target from 80p to 95p and prefers it to rival Vodafone, 3/4p worse at 146p.

A lot of interest again focused on smaller caps. Media rights group Parallel Media rose 1 3/4p to 4.82p on talk that it may have clinched another Asian sport, while Integrated Dental Holdings jumped 2 1/2p to 37 1/2p after several directors, including non-executive financier and former stockbroker Luke Johnson, said they were interested in making a bid.

Building services group Mears rose 2 1/2p to 135p after its latest upbeat trading statement.

This week's high-flier, online auctioneer QXL Ricardo, dived 45p to 575p after briefly touching 650p. It reached 810p yesterday, having come up from about 200p since the start of the week amid reports it will soon make a profit.

Broker UBS has begun coverage of merchant bank Close Brothers, owner of market-maker Winterflood Securities. It has started with a buy recommendation and a 1000p target. The shares rose 18 1/2p to 830 1/2p. Winterflood is expected to do well from the revival of private investor demand.

The prospect of more consolidation in pharmaceuticals caused City speculators to nibble at Anglo-Swedish group AstraZeneca, up 58p at 2668p, and Shire Pharmaceuticals, up 2 1/2p to 516 1/2p.

German business newspaper Handelsblatt has reported that Franco-German group Aventis plans a e90bn (£62bn) merger with French rival Sanofi-Synthelabo to create the world's second-biggest drugs company in terms of sales. Swiss drugs supplier Roche confirmed bigger rival Novartis had increased its stake from 32.7% to 33.3%.

Discount airline easyJet fell 11 1/4p to 358p after US broker Smith Barney downgraded from buy to hold. It continues to rate British Airways, unchanged at 290p, a buy.

Shares in XecutiveResearch Group were suspended on the Alternative Investment Market today at 0.18p. The management says it has received a bid approach.