Market report: Tuesday close

BROKERS are continuing to raise their forecasts and ratings for

The ruling, forcing Abbott to pay CAT more in royalties, will result in an extra £30 million a year in revenue. The two sides got together in 1993 to develop a genetically engineered antibody to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

UBS has raised its recommendation on the shares from reduce to neutral and lifted its target price from 535p to 825p. US broker Lehman reckons CAT will receive about £10.5m in back payments and legal costs of between £2m and £4m. Such a move would boost its coffers to £171m, providing it with seven years of research funding.

It remains overweight in the shares with a price target of 920p. Other bullish brokers reckon the true value of the company is closer to 1000p.

One beneficiary of the High Court ruling is drugs giant AstraZeneca, down 11p at 1899p, which earlier this year invested £75m in a 19% stake in CAT.

Share prices generally ticked better in thin trading with the FTSE 100 index rising 4.8 points at 4735.9. The Dow opened sharply higher in New York this afternoon.

Turnover in BP, up 3½p at 506p, was boosted by a line of 30m shares at 507½p. Anglo-Dutch food giant Unilever slipped 1¾p to 495p after a line of 7m shares went through on the ticker at 493p.

Someone made a quick profit in GUS after a line of 5m shares went through at 916p. The price later dropped 1½p to 921½p. The move coincided with news that the Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal has started an inquiry into the Euro 2005 preference shares. These were created as a tax-friendly alternative to a cash dividend. Now the company wants to convert them into ordinary shares but has met opposition from some preference shareholders.

UBS has downgraded its rating on support services group PHS, unchanged on 80p, from buy to neutral while keeping its target price at 85p. It has also repeated its neutral rating on property developer Slough Estates, ahead by 4½p at 520p. However, it tweaked its target price 20p higher to 550p.

QuestAir Technologies opened at 77½p in first-time dealings on AIM following a placing of 8.6m shares at 74½p. The company, which develops, manufactures and supplies advanced gas purification systems, has raised £6.4m.

US broker Smith Barney has downgraded logistics specialist Wincanton, off 1¾p at 271¾p, from hold to sell. Smith Barney argues that Wincanton's cashflow will 'wane' in 2005 and says the group is exposed to sluggish continental European growth. But it has chosen to raise the price target from 220p to 240p.

The broker's top pick in the sector is Exel, 1½p better at 713p, which it rates as a buy with a target price of 829p. It remains a seller of TDG, unchanged at 216p.

Cyprotex chairman Robert Atwater has bought a further 425,000 shares at 10p, stretching his holding to 835,000 shares but still less than 1% of the company. Cyprotex advanced ½p to 10¾p.