Banks are dominating events again, but while Northern Rock and Alliance & Leicester are on the slide, there is one bright spot in the shape of Standard Chartered.
So let's accentuate the positive for a change. Standard Chartered jumped more than 4% to £17.31 on reports that Singapore's Temasek - which owns 17% of the Asian focused bank - had rebuffed approaches from three leading Chinese banks. Standard Chartered has been seen as a takeover target for some while, but this is the first time there has been any serious interest reported from China.
And now, inevitably, to Northern Rock. Its shares are now down 15.5% to an all time low of 112.2p after it admitted that any offers were likely to be well below last Friday's closing price of 132.6p. It is hard to know how this is a surprise, since shareholders have been warned several times that they are likely to be left with little or nothing. Investors such as RAB Capital and Jon Wood's hedge fund SRM Global - who own around 13% - are not likely to be happy. Unless the government intervenes, expect to see an action group forming before long.
Meanwhile Alliance & Leicester lost another 3.6% despite a spokesman repeating what he said here on Friday that the bank was continuing to raise money successfully at near Libor. However Libor, the rate at which banks lend to each other, has been climbing again in recent days as credit fears re-emerge.
For a Monday, there was an unusual amount of bid excitement. SABMiller, down 12p to £13.32, paid $1.2bn for Dutch brewer Grolsh. SAB has been tipped as a bidder for Scottish & Newcastle, which has already rejected an offer from Carlsberg and Heineken. SAB would not comment today about its intentions.
Meanwhile keyhole surgery group Gyrus - which slipped last week after a patent dispute - jumped 54% to 614p after an agreed 630p a share offer from Japan's Olympus Corporation. The bid values Gyrus at £935m.
But oil group Burren Energy fell 182p to £10.06 after Italy's Eni said it was dropping its bid proposal after the UK group rejected a £12 a share offer.
ABN Amro said: "This is a negative for Burren - for us Eni was a natural bidder for the company given the shared interest in M'Boundi and the strategic foothold in Turkmenistan that the Nebit Dag assets would deliver.
"At least one other offer (at £11.00) has been tabled (widely thought to be KNOC), and it remains to be seen what KNOC's intentions are, although at the very least this morning's events reduce the chances of a bidding war.
"Burren's reponse this morning appears to be a clear sign that it would be willing to negotiate if a bid came in at around £12.50-£13.00. We retain our hold recommendation, and while the shares initial reaction this morning is understandable, we would be buyers on prolonged weakness (i.e. down to £10.00)."
