Market report: Tuesday close

INVESTORS were checking out of

There was better news for Sainsbury's as US investment fund Brandes lifted its stake in the company to 11.2% from 10.2%, suggesting it believes the shares have further to rise. However, some analysts doubt the economic sense of a takeover bid at present valuations. Seymour Pierce, for example, does not think a debt-backed buyout would be workable above 280p.The share slipped 1¼p to 296¼p.

The FTSE 100 index was in better shape, adding 25.2 points to 5000.2, propped up by yesterday's gains on Wall Street. But stubbornly high oil prices, straining towards $60 a barrel, are limiting the upside. All eyes will be on Iran tomorrow, where the Opec is due to hammer out new production quotas. But even if it increases output, some cartel officials believe it will do little to curb prices.

Shares in energy companies were higher, with BP adding 5½p to 567p, Shell 1½p better at 493p and BG Group rising 8¼p to 422¼p.

Also among the Footsie leaders was AstraZeneca, up 21p at 22201p after the US Food and Drug Administration said it would allow the pharmaceuticals giant's cholesterol drug Crestor to stay on the US market.

Emap fell 1½p to 852½p after SG Securities advised investors to buy shares in the publishing group, setting a fair value target at 1203p - a big premium to present valuations.

Lehman Brothers believes it may be time to check out of InterContinental Hotels . Cutting estimates, the broker reckons the shares are fully valued and has reiterated its underweight rating and 600p target, but the shares gained 5p to 653p.

Leading the FTSE 250 was scientific materials company Cookson, buoyed 1¾p to 39p by full-year profits that, at £93.1m, were slightly ahead of expectations. Separately, Cookson said Dennis Millard has resigned as finance director and plans to leave this year, but will stay on until a replacement has been found.

Electronics and home security company Laird was up 8p at 340p as it reported a 26% leap in pre-tax profit to £47.1m, in line with consensus forecasts.

Property asset manager Capital & Regional, which invests in shopping centres, retail parks and entertainment complexes, rose 13p to 720p after jacking up its full-year dividend by 56% to 14p.

Mini investment bank Shore Capital, up 1p to 41¼p, is looking at making real estate investments in Eastern Europe for its range of alternative asset investment funds. Pre-tax profits for 2004 tripled to £6.5m after a strong year in equity capital markets and good asset-management returns.

The growth in the number of teachers wanting to go on to supply contracts, as well as a slew of acquisitions in the education, healthcare and social work sectors, helped Aim-listed Public Recruitment Group to double underlying profits to £1.5m in 2004. The shares, which floated 11 months ago, were steady at 126½p.