Market report: Tuesday close

THE bookies usually get it right more times than not. So when they tell you the financial advisers of spread betting outfit

Brokers UBS, Numis Securities and Bridgewell Securities are offering the shares to punters in a range of 112p to 139p, which will raise £124m and value the business at a whopping £435m.

But rival spread bookie Cantor Index is far from convinced the offering will get away smoothly. Its spread of 118p to 124p is towards the lower end of the range and there are growing doubts about the enthusiasm of investors for this flotation second time around.

It is less than two years since private equity operator CVC Capital bought the business from founder and Tory Party contributor Stuart Wheeler. Cantor points out that at the top of the range, the shares are trading at 25 times earnings and there is more than enough competition in a busy market place with names such as IFX, Spreadex, deal4free and Tradindex already carving out market share.

Investors were regaining their poise in the Square Mile following the sell-off of the past few days. The FTSE 100 index closed 28.5 points higher at 4,855.6. Despite news of further losses overnight on Wall Street, share prices were being marked higher, underpinned by convincing performances by markets in the Far East.

But trading in New York looked likely to be nervous again this afternoon with a plethora of blue-chip firms, including Coca-Cola, Intel and Pfizer due to report. General Motors was also expected to post quarterly losses of $1bn.

Drugs giant AstraZeneca fell 10p to 2262p despite US Broker Morgan Stanley raising its recommendation on the shares from equal weight to overweight. It has also lifted its target price from 2150p to 2500p.

Prudential announced another distribution deal ahead of an analysts' presentation tomorrow. It has landed a contract to sell annuities and its PruHealth healthcare plan through the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank networks. The shares closed 7½p higher at 503p.

Ulster Television, down 8p at 516½p, wants to buy former Sun Editor Kelvin MacKenzie's Wireless Group, up 4p at 86½p, which owns the TalkSport radio station. Negotiations are at an early stage but any offer would value Wireless at more than £100m. MacKenzie has been looking for finance to take Wireless Group private.

HIT Entertainment, maker of the Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine TV series, rose 2p to 318¾p and broker ABN Amro is telling clients to stand by for yet another bid approach.

The Takeover Panel says rival bidders must show their hands by 13 May, or be prevented from making another move for six months. HIT is continuing to recommend a 300p-a-share offer from private equity outfit Apax Partner, but could find itself on the receiving end of rival offers from Lions Gate Entertainment and Classic Media.

Mouchel Parkman, manager of the M25 motorway, stood out with a rise of 12p to 247½p with profits before tax up by 30% at £7.9m and a rise in the dividend. On the Alternative Investment Market (Aim), Sinclair Pharma shot up 10p to 131½p, after US drug regulators approved Decapinol, its mouth rinse for gum disease gingivitis. The market is reckoned to be worth $100m a year and Nomura says Decapinol will be one of the group's biggest growth drivers.