On a quiet day it was the special situations which demanded attention. And they don't come more special than Mike Ashley's Sports Direct.
The sports goods retailer closed nearly 20% higher at 101p, mainly on relief that things weren't worse. Even some of the more bearish analysts were not as scathing as normal.
And then there was the declaration that Phoenix Asset Management Partners - chaired by Sir Peter Thompson of transport group NFC fame - had taken a 3.08% stake in the company. Phoenix was tight lipped about the investment, but its track record includes tackling insurer Goshawk on corporate governance. Plenty for it to get its teeth into on that score at Sports Direct, one suspects.
There is also talk that a couple of Sports Direct executives have taken the opportunity of the weak price to buy more shares.
While Sports Direct was leading the FTSE 250 index, Northern Rock headed the 100 index leaderboard, although traders are at a loss to explain why. It is up more than 4%, but surely it must be obvious by now that shareholders will get little or nothing, whatever happens.
Bid news lifted oil services group Abbot - up 14% after a £906m managment buyout - while waste firm Biffa bounced 6.5% to 338.5p as it opened its books once private equity predators Hg and Montagu upped their offer to 350p a share.
Overall the FTSE 100 ended 5.2 points higher at 6284.5, helped by the news that the Bank of England unanimously voted for a rate cut earlier this month.
