London afternoon: Footsie hits 4-month peak

Dealing rooms across the City strapped on their buying boots ahead of the weekend following a much smaller than expected fall in US nonfarm payrolls.

The number of Americans who lost their jobs in August was 54,000 compared with predictions of over 100,000. The payrolls count in both the previous two months was also revised higher, exciting another round of interest in equities.

Futures prices indicate a surge of over 100 points at the opening bell on Wall Street, which would push the rally since Wednesday's low past 5%.

All this has the FTSE 100 way above 5,400 at its best intraday levels since May 4.

London had been doing alright even before the US data. In a quiet morning for hard news, traders entertained themselves with some good old fashioned bid speculation.

Temporary power solutions provider Aggreko is still top performer on whispers that someone may be preparing a bid, but the rumour has not yet developed to the stage where the name of the putative predator has been determined.

Autonomy is higher for a second day on bid rumours. Gossip doing the rounds yesterday was acquisition-hungry US software giants Microsoft and Oracle are in the frame as likely bidders at a price north of 2500p per share.

Hedge fund manager Man is wanted after Numis Securities issued a "buy" note yesterday while mobile phones network colossus Vodafone edges higher after Deutsche Bank lifted its price target but there is not much enthusiasm for Homebase and Argos owner Home Retail ahead of results next week. The retailer could be facing ejection from the FTSE 100 constituents next week, which is also undermining demand for the shares.

BP's bill for cleaning up after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has hit $8bn (£5.2bn), up over £1bn in less than a month, and the relief well is not expected to intercept the broken MC252 well for a couple of weeks.

Fears that BHP Billiton might end up in a bidding war in its pursuit of Canadian fertiliser firm Potash receded a little after Canadian pension fund Alberta Investment Management spurned an approach from Chinese investors keen to launch a counterbid to BHP's $40bn (£26bn) offer.

Soco has plugged and abandoned its first wildcat exploration drilling well at Nganga 1 (NGA-1) in the Nganzi Block, onshore the Democratic Republic of Congo, after hitting water.

It's been a tough six months for banana importer Fyffes but conditions have "normalised" over the summer months and the group remains on target to meet forecasts, though profits are well down on last year.

Sports and leisure equipment firm Tandem said it expects full year results to be well ahead of market expectations and will pay an interim dividend. Revenue from its Dawes cycle business showed exceptional growth, well ahead of market performance, it added.

Ukrainian wheat farmer Landkom is wanted as heat future prices surge in the wake of Russia's decision to extend its ban of wheat imports. Last month Landkom said that it expects to benefit from higher wheat prices caused by hot weather while missing out on the worst of the heat damage that is ravaging crops in the east of Ukraine and Russia . Most of Landkom's farming areas are in the west of Ukraine, which has been unaffected by drought.