BAE leapt to the top of the FTSE 100 Index risers’ board today after an 11% shares boost, up 34.9p to 363.6p, following news of the possible tie-up merger with aerospace group EADS.
The wider Footsie failed to hold on to early session gains and ended the session down 10.1 points to 5,782.1.
Other strong performances came from Lloyds Banking Group up 1.4p at 38.5p, BT Group up 8.7p to 235.2p and Royal Bank of Scotland ahead 10p at 274.7p.
Kingfisher shares recovered from an initial fall to stand 2.7p higher at £2.75 despite it saying the wettest summer in 100 years had hit sales.
The Footsie’s biggest fallers were Hargreaves Lansdown down 24p to £6.30, Anglo American down 53.5p to 1901.5p, Admiral Group off 28p to £10.91 and BG Group down 31p to 1239.5p.
Elsewhere, chocolatier Thorntons cheered investors after it said it was “heartened” by recent trading after its Best of British range gave a boost to its turnaround plans.
The group’s note of optimism came despite a sharp fall in underlying full-year profits to just £850,000, as it counted the cost of weak Christmas trading and some of the most challenging conditions in its history. Shares were 1.6p higher at 28.9p.
Barratt Developments was 6% lower in the FTSE 250 Index – down 10.9p to 158.8p – after its full-year results triggered a fall back from recent highs.
Elaine McLachlan, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Inverness, noted Plexus Holdings up 5.5% at 141.5p and EnQuest gaining 3.8% to 123.6p.
BG Group was off 2.4% at 1239.5p, Havelock Europa fell 2.3% to 10.63p and Xcite Energy shed 2.2% to 120.5p.