Market report: Tuesday close

THE lights are beginning to dim at

It admits extra inspection work, after a safety scare, on two reactors at Heysham, Lancashire, will result in a three-week overrun. The reactors are not expected to be back in service until mid-December, resulting in a £50m hit after the lost output and costs of unplanned shutdowns there and at Sizewell.

That contrasts with BE's original estimate of £25m losses only a few weeks ago, and its current market value of £33.6m.

The latest setback will eat into the group's overstretched finances. It recently completed an emergency refinancing with its banks and the Government, which has warned it will not hesitate to wind up the company if losses are extended. BE added 0.3p to 5.3p, while the A shares were unmoved on 3 1/4p. At their peak in 1999, the ordinaries changed hands at 749p and the A at 60 1/2p.

Share prices generally traded below their best levels of the day following a hesitant start to trading on Wall Street in the wake of third-quarter US economic growth numbers. The FTSE 100 index finished up 6.3 points to 4388.7.

Fund manager Amvescap led the top 100 companies higher, rising 27p to 419p, as it tried to soothe City fears about the Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into allegations that hedge funds and other professionals favoured big investors at the expense of small, long-term punters.

Amvescap, best known for its Perpetual and Invesco brands, faces fines from the SEC and the State of New York's Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Deutsche Bank responded by raising Amvescap from sell to hold, while US securities house Morgan Stanley repeated its equal-weight rating.

Barclays rose 8 1/4p to 505 3/4p after broker SG Securities raised it from hold to buy and increased fair value from 525p to 575p. Vodafone hit a new high for the year, with a rise of 2p to 138 3/4p, as it continued its meetings with City investors.

Drinks giant Diageo firmed 2 1/2p to 716 1/2p as broker UBS repeated its buy rating and lifted its target from 780p to 820p. UBS has also raised its price for bookie Stanley Leisure from 320p to 375p in the wake of last week's go-ahead for fixed-odds betting terminals. It continues to be neutral. The shares rose 2 1/2p to 376p.

Coffee Republic struck a new low, down 0.08p to 0.95p, despite hi-fi millionaire Julian Richer picking up 10m shares, raising his holding to 71m, or 14.27%. It is rumoured he will make a full bid. Richer and investors including French Connection's Stephen Marks backed the group's recent £2.45m cash call to help re-brand the business.

Last year, rival Caffe Nero bid £10m, or 4 1/2p a share, for loss-making Coffee Republic but withdrew the offer. It continues to hold about 3% of the shares.

Spread bookie Cantor Index has begun a grey market in Vedanta Resources of 460p to 475p a share. Last week, there were suggestions the offer could be pitched at 680p to 835p. Vedanta runs copper, aluminium and zinc smelting operations in India and Australia.

Trans-Siberian Gold started life on AIM after a placing at 150p. It touched 153 1/2p before settling at 137 1/2p.

#

Lastminute rose 22p to 266p on talk of a £1bn bid from InterActive. The terms would value lastminute at 350p a share. Not bad for a company still making big losses.