Footsie finished on or around its high point for the day but just shy of the 6,000 level.
Risers outnumbered fallers by about three to one among FTSE 100 constituents, with resource stocks featuring prominently among the laggards.
Real estate investment trusts British Land and Land Securities led the property sector higher after JP Morgan issued an upbeat note on the sector.
Betting shops and casinos operator Ladbrokes says the potential marriage with online gaming firm 888 is off. The two parties had been engaged in preliminary merger discussions but these has been terminated.
Shares in 888 plunged on the news whereas Ladbrokes topped the FTSE 250 leaderboard and sparked interest in sector peer William Hill as well.
The Ladbrokes announcement accompanied a first quarter trading update in which business showed a marked pick up towards the end of the reporting period. For the first quarter overall, group net revenue – excluding high rollers – was 2.3% higher than a year earlier, with the period from 16 February showing a 4.2% year on year increase. This was despite a poor Cheltenham festival where the group's net revenue was down £10.7m on the 2010 festival.
The bookmaker is to get a new chief financial officer, having lured Ian Bull over from brewing and pubs group Greene King. Bull will hang around until the announcement of Greene King's preliminary results on the last day of June, whereupon he will join Ladbrokes as chief financial officer (CFO).
Continuing the merry-go-round, Matthew Fearn, currently CFO of foods outfit Brakes Group, will be joining Greene King as group finance director and a member of the board on 1st September 2011.
Jordan-based Hikma Pharmaceuticals has entered into a strategic partnership with the Indian pharmaceutical company Unimark Remedies. Hikma is paying $33.3m to take a minority stake in privately held Unimark, one of India's leading manufacturers of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and API intermediates.
Specialist currency manager Record said it expects pre-tax profits for the financial year ended 31 March 2011 to be broadly in line with market expectations.
Distribution group Wincanton warned that revenue at its German Intermodal business fell in the fourth quarter after the Rhine was closed to traffic for over four weeks. Otherwise its overall performance continues to be broadly in line with management expectations, the group said in Friday's trading update.
They must be thinking of getting a revolving door installed in the board room at software firm Micro Focus after another top level departure. This time it is chief executive, Nigel Clifford, leaving the company after less than a year in the job. Back in June of last year it was Nick Bray, at that time the group’s chief financial officer, who jumped ship.
RBS sticks with its buy recommendation and 365p target price for the stock but acknowledges it has been a It has been “a difficult 12 months for Micro Focus and against that backdrop it has been difficult for Nigel Clifford to stamp any strategic authority on the business.”
“As a result, in isolation, we do not see this announcement as a major concern. However, following a succession of previous management changes it is clearly unhelpful for sentiment,” RBS added.
Oil company Salamander Energy has a little less fire in its belly after its first stab at drilling the Dao Ruang-2 well in Thailand did not work out.
Australian gold producer Norseman Gold hit a 52-week low after it said slow progress at some of its operations means it will make an operating loss this year. the company now expects to post an operating loss of between A$5m and A$8m before tax and exceptional items, compared to a profit of A$0.2m last year.
Sports and education information publisher Electric Word is buying NHS software provider Ikonami for a maximum consideration of £2.2m.
Restaurant owner Richoux swung into the black in the year ended 26 December after opening a number of new restaurants in the period.
Latin American oil and gas exploration and production company Geopark Holdingsreturned to profit in 2010 on the back of higher production volumes and surging oil prices.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Man Group (EMG) 250.60p +4.24%
British Land Co (BLND) 569.00p +3.08%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,200.00p +2.73%
Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,577.00p +2.07%
Next (NXT) 2,205.00p +2.04%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 753.50p +2.03%
BT Group (BT.A) 192.00p +1.96%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,626.00p +1.94%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,461.00p +1.88%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,042.00p +1.85%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Essar Energy (ESSR) 448.50p -2.03%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 42.67p -1.98%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,300.00p -1.59%
Wolseley (WOS) 2,097.00p -1.08%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,308.00p -1.03%
BP (BP.) 455.75p -0.93%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,316.00p -0.78%
ITV (ITV) 73.75p -0.74%
Pearson (PSON) 1,098.00p -0.72%
Invensys (ISYS) 321.00p -0.71%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Ladbrokes (LAD) 144.30p +6.97%
William Hill (WMH) 196.30p +5.65%
Dixons Retail (DXNS) 13.87p +5.24%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 606.50p +5.11%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 345.80p +4.79%
Mothercare (MTC) 418.00p +3.39%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 339.10p +3.38%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 234.80p +3.25%
Melrose (MRO) 322.80p +3.16%
Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 1,195.00p +3.02%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 291.80p -7.75%
Salamander Energy (SMDR) 300.30p -3.97%
Morgan Crucible Co (MGCR) 290.80p -2.38%
Exillon Energy (EXI) 426.30p -2.00%
Helical Bar (HLCL) 263.10p -1.83%
Betfair Group (BET) 947.50p -1.81%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 889.00p -1.77%
Anglo Pacific Group (APF) 316.60p -1.68%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 156.90p -1.63%
Afren (AFR) 158.20p -1.43%
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