Market report: Thursday close

IT was a time for investors to take stock and a few profits today as share prices came off their 30-month high reached by the close of business last night.

Since the start of November - in the wake of the US Presidential election - City investors have been on something of a roll. The rise in the FTSE 100 index has been stretched to 145 points, or 3%, increasing the gain on the year to 7.6%.

Today, the index see-sawed, closing up 0.3 at 4820.1. The number of shares changing hands was among the lowest this year, which served to exaggerate some price movements.

In Tokyo, investors today ended the year's trading with a half-day session. Despite interest rates of less than 1%, the Nikkei 225 closed 107.20 higher at 11,488.76, a points rise on the year of exactly the same as London. Dealers say the Nikkei will rise back above 12,000 in the New Year with investors taking an increasingly upbeat view of economic prospects.

In brisk trading with 28m shares changing hands, Jarvis ran into profit-taking. Having touched 44.1p early on, the shares slipped 9p to 28p. That followed a surge in the stock following the sale of its stake in the Tube Lines consortium to Amey for £147m.

The disposal guarantees the heavily-indebted group's future for another year and means it can now proceed with a debt-for-equity reconstruction. Some investors have done well, having bought the shares when they struck a low of 7¾p earlier this month. Broker Tony Craze of tonycraze.com maintains: 'It was always going to be a toss-up as to whether you doubled your money in Jarvis or ended up using the share certificates as lampshades.'

The Indian Ocean earthquake again dampened sentiment among investors as the true horror of the disaster continued to emerge. Some brokers reckon the likes of Shell, ¼p down at 445¾p, and BP, off 1½p at 510&#frac12p, could easily bolster the relief fund. They have big interests in the region and just 1% of their combined profits would raise around £200m.

Holidays group MyTravel fell 0.7p to 7.5p with the support of some bullish comments from broker UBS. It says the company can now be viewed as a going concern again following bondholder approval for its capital restructuring. It has lifted its 12-month target price from 5p to 6p and tweaked its earnings forecast from a loss of 5p a share to a profit of 0.13p next year and from 0.13p to 0.6p in 2006.

Takeover favourite SSL International was pushed 18p higher to 314p on speculative buying. City gossips say GPW of the US, which was spun out of Kroll in August, has begun due diligence work on behalf of a bidder which may be prepared to pay up to 400p a share within weeks. That would value SSL at £757m.

Other companies thought to be in the running include household products giant Reckitt Benckiser, down 3p at 1574p, US consumer products companies Johnson & Johnson and Kimberly-Clark, and battery maker Energizer Holdings.

Losing money working for the big-spending National Health Service takes some doing but that is what has happened at IMS Maxim, down 40% or 0.75p at 2.38p.

The software systems provider increased pre-tax losses of £1.8m in the six months to 30 September from £1.3m a year earlier. The company blames 'planning blight' and is on the lookout for partners to help it bring new products to market.