Techs lead surge on war relief

RELIEF that the air crash in New York on Monday seemed more likely an accident than an act of sabotage allowed shares to bounce back from the previous session's losses.

Business started quietly but, with technology stocks in the vanguard, prices advanced on a broad front, early gains pushing the FTSE 100 up 42.5 points to 5188.7. Volume increased around lunchtime when it was clear that Wall Street would open strongly and, by London's close, almost 2.5bn shares had been traded. The FTSE peaked 138.1 higher and closed just below the day's best at 5277.1, up 130.9.

While the fall of Kabul helped overall sentiment, the mood of the market remained jumpy, with more than the usual amount of interest being shown in special situations and recovery stocks. Buyers looked for bargains in the FTSE 250, for instance, particularly for those with attractive yields and capital growth potential.

Many of these are good businesses whose share prices suffered from the market malaise that followed the Twin Towers catastrophe. Recent good runs for bonds and gilts prompted hard looks at equities, a mood that dealers think might run until the end of the year.

Some stocks remain troubled by their newsflow, among them food distributor Brake Brothers, which had its problems before 11 September and is seen as being vulnerable to fewer tourists and a reduction in the number of people eating out. When it warned that the outcome of its busy two months, November and December, was difficult to call, the shares dropped 52 1/2p to 465p.

Weaker tourist prospects failed to hit Selfridges, up 8p to 297p. Elsewhere on the High Street, useful gains were registered by Marks & Spencer, Kingfisher, Debenhams and GUS.

Power distributor Viridian was down from 565 1/2p to 547 1/2p after worse-than- expected figures for the first half. Other features included Pizza Express, up 1 1/2p to 785p, despite its profit forecast being downgraded by Numis from £47m to £45m.

Better-than-expected figures from the Dicom Group attracted a flood of buyers, who pushed the price up from 410p to 432 1/2p. In freight stocks, Salvesen bucked the trend, rising from 89 1/2p to 93p.

Spotting potential bids is the market's favourite pastime, no more so than now. Among these is Edinburgh Oil & Gas. Its stake in a North Sea field attracted enough buyers to push its shares from 80p to 87p. A bid could come at around 100p. BP rose from 55 1/2p to 566p after pleasing the market with its decision to slash spending at the huge Grangemouth refinery by axing around 1,000 jobs. Shell, too, was strong, up 18 1/2p at 518p.

With almost 700,000 shares traded, and a major seller out of the market, more than the usual interest was shown in investment banker Durlacher, at last off its low and up 1/2p to 3 3/4p.

Selected smaller stocks found buyers. Interest in Aim-listed Pilat Technology, for instance, rose from 28 1/2p to 36 1/2p, stimulated by talk of a demerger before Christmas. But shareholders hoping for more than the 30p cash offer for Clipserver will have to wait as the bid from Xtreme has been extended until 19 November.