Market report: Tuesday 09.00

A FEW days after its engines lifted the giant Airbus A380 jet off the ground for the first time,

CSFB has upgraded the firm from neutral to outperform, arguing that recent share-price weakness and the stock's attractive defensive qualities make it a compelling buy. The broker has set a target price of 270p. The shares were up 5½p at 242½p.

Helped by gains on Wall Street yesterday, the FTSE 100 was doing some low flying of its own, up 33.9 at 4835.6. Weaker oil prices - -which late last week dipped below $50 a barrel for the first time in more than two months - were also doing their bit to improve sentiment. But volume in London is likely to be on the low side ahead of Thursday's General Election.

In an upgrade that could cost $450m (£237.6m), Shell, 5p better at 474½p, unveiled plans to modernise Libya's crumbling liquefied natural gas export plant. Shell also plans to spend a whopping $187m searching for gas in five blocks to which the government has just granted it exploration rights. If it finds enough, Shell plans to develop a new LNG facility. BP, which is also sniffing out business opportunities in Libya, added 9p to 543p.

Alternative Investment Market (Aim)-listed minnow Falkland Oil & Gas, backed by influential hedge fund manager RAB Capital, also had something to smile about. The stock surged 9½p to 118½p when it significantly upgraded the potential of its exploration zone in the South Atlantic.

After a three-month seismic shoot, the company said it now has 130 leads in the region, compared with an initial eight, and claims several could have recoverable oil reserves of at least 200m barrels.

Things looked less rosy for Canada-based Adulis Resources, which has drilled a $2.3m dry hole in Colombia. Even so, the stock advanced ½p to 64p.

A fire has hit chip production for Cambridge Silicon Radio, the company that provides bluetooth wireless chips used in mobiles and headsets. But the shares advanced 11¾p, after the firm said first-quarter figures due tomorrow, will be in line with expectations.

Shares in Prologic, software provider to Ted Baker and other fashion retailers, leapt 11p to 80½p, after the company said profits and cash generation would come in ahead of market expectations for the 12 months to the end of March thanks to strong trading. Five new contract wins over the year included one Belgian retailer, giving the firm its first foothold in mainland Europe.

Torotrak was one of the biggest movers among the small-caps, up 14½p to 74½p, after winning an Italian job to manufacture the British company's gear-box technology for automatic cars. Torotrak will receive more than £1.2m in licence payments from Italy's Carraro over two years, plus later royalties.

Northgate Information Solutions, which supplies software applications and outsourcing solutions to the human resources, public safety and local government markets, said current trading is in line with the guidance it gave at its interim results stage. The company added that it remains confident the group has achieved its year-end target. Results for the 12 months to end-April will be announced in late June. The shares rose 2¼p to 69p.