Market report: Thursday close

THE Bank of England's decision to hold interest rates at 3.5% reinforced gains among blue-chips today, boosting the FTSE 100 index by 45.3 points to 4313.9.

US giant General Electric is emerging as the most likely bidder for our own Amersham although City speculators are not ruling out counterbids.

Press reports in the US say GE, which includes the NBC television network, has made a preliminary approach to Amersham because it wants to expand into medical diagnostics and is attracted by its strong revenue stream.

GE is being restructured by chairman and chief executive Jeffrey Immelt, who has spent billions of dollars this year.

He has sold off poorly performing parts of the GE empire and made big acquisitions, including Vivendi Universal's film and TV interests in the US for $14bn (£8.4bn), the commercial finance arm of Aegon ($5.4bn) and Finnish medical devices maker Instrumentarium ($2.3bn).

But it seems unlikely GE will get a clear run. Switzerland's Roche, Johnson & Johnson of the US and even Dutch giant Philips may also lay claim to Amersham, whose shares surged 16% yesterday. The speculators were chasing it even higher today, the price rising 19p to 660p, with 33m shares traded.

Broker UBS Warburg has repeated its neutral stance on Amersham but raised its 12-month target from 600p to 675p while Credit Suisse First Boston has raised its target from 470p to 610p.

MFI Furniture fell 5 1/2p to 178 1/2p in heavy turnover of 43m shares, including a placing of 23.31m at 174p. Deutsche Bank is said to have done the business.

Miners were firm, supported by the record price of platinum. Gold is also in demand. BHP Billiton surged 20p to 451 3/4p while Rio Tinto put on 44p to 1413p. They were also lifted by bullish comments from broker Investec.

BP was up 4 1/2p at 435p after selling its European special products unit, which makes waxes, process oils and rubber additives, to Germany's H&R Wasag. No jobs are expected to be lost following the deal, which will be good news for UK plants in Chorley, Lancashire, and Tipton, West Midlands.

Building services specialist Mears Group marked time at 124p, up 1 1/2p. Broker Arbuthnot Securities has repeated its add advice and 123p target price. It says the group has a strong order book and is continuing to benefit from the Government's policy of spending money on council homes.

The broker says its profits forecast for the year fails to reflect the benefits of recent acquisitions. Brokers are forecasting pre-tax profits of £5.1m, against £3.6m the previous year.

Profit-taking in Manchester United left it 2p weaker at 233p on volume of more than half a million. The price has risen sharply this week on the back of stake-building. Malcolm Glazer, owner of America's NFL club Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is regarded as front runner to bid.

Alizyme rose 9p to a four-year high
159 1/2p after the biotech specialist received a US patent in relation to
ATL-962, its development product for use in the treatment of obesity and related disorders, including Type II diabetes.