Market report: Tuesday close

SHARES in steelmaker

As Corus fell, so did the FTSE 100 - it rebounded from an earlier 47.6 point loss to close 27.9 points adrift at 5032.9. The Dow fell 38.8 points to 10,746.4. Roaring oil prices as well as sterling strength and dollar weakness - an ominous combination for companies that generate large amounts of their revenues in dollars - were behind the weak tone, dealers said.

There were a few bright spots. Hays advanced 1¾p to 129¾p as Morgan Stanley upgraded its target on the mail services firm to 143p from 135p.

Meanwhile, miners such as Rio Tinto, up 20p at 1779p, and Antofagasta, ahead 20p at 1346p, rose for the same reason that Corus fell - the prospect of a jump in the cost of raw materials.

British Land was up 9p at 870p, propped up by a Merrill Lynch upgrade to buy from neutral. The broker believes the shares are oversold.

But otherwise sentiment was downbeat. After an initial surge, Reuters, off 4¾p at 409½p, succumbed to general market weakness despite CSFB painting a rosy picture of the media group's prospects. The broker upped its target to 510p from 410p amid what it believes are improving market conditions in the US and Europe.

Marks & Spencer was once again at the top of the City's agenda. Shares in the troubled retail giant were up 6½p at 374p, fuelled by media reports claiming a South African financier is planning a 410p-a-share cash takeover, which would put a value of £10.5bn on the group. Retail tycoon Philip Green said he is not for the moment considering making a offer but indicated he might pounce if someone else tables a bid. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein did not help the stock by reiterating its hold rating.

Results from mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley were slightly ahead of expectations, but investors were spooked by the prospect of a slowdown in demand for home loans and sold the shares down 11¾p to 329p. ABN Amro cut its rating to reduce from hold. Alliance & Leicester, due to report on Friday, fell 12p to 924p in sympathy.

However, despite today's weakness aside, the FTSE 100 remains near its highest level for two and a half years. With a spate of results due out over the rest of the week, another batch of big profits could well see stock market on the offensive again.

One of the companies limbering up to release full-year results this week, BAE Systems, received a boost from Goldman Sachs, which upgraded the shares to outperform from in line, setting fair value at 285p, but they slipped back 4½p to 248¼p.

Tomkins is worth a look ahead of tomorrow's fullyear results, reckons Investec. As the shares nudged 3¾p lower to 279p, the broker said it is sticking to its buy rating on the engineering group.

The broker says that it is 'confident' it will be upgrading estimates over the next 12 months on an underlying basis.