There is some vague talk of a possible bid for pharmaceuticals group Shire just as the market closes, although dealers are far from wholly convinced.
The company's shares - which have fallen from almost £13 in September on concerns about the growth prospects of its Vyvanse treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - ended the day 15p higher at £10.15.
The rumour was of a possible £14 a share offer. The company has often been tipped as a tasty morsel for a larger group such as GlaxoSmithKline or AstraZeneca, or an overseas buyer.
However dealers pointed out that volumes were not particularly heavy in Shire today. On top of that, non-executive director David Mott yesterday bought 5,000 American Depository Shares representing 15,000 ordinary shares, which would seem to indicate the company does not know of anything going on.
Overall the market showed good gains for the second day running. The FTSE 100 closed 87.9 points higher at 6087.4, with a rally on Wall Street helping to maintain the momentum in London. US investors managed to more or less ignore a raft of pretty poor economic indicators, not least a 90% jump in home repossessions in January compared with a year ago. However news of a $15bn share buyback plan from computer giant IBM helped the optimists keep the upper hand.
Back in the UK, financials underpinned the FTSE rise. Possible bid target Alliance & Leicester closed up 45p at 600p, while Standard Chartered added 124p to £17.04 after better than expected results.
Energy companies were heading the other way, with Centrica 5.5p lower at 323p in the wake of a Lehman Brothers downgrade.
