London close: Footsie little changed

Leading shares struggled for direction all day and closed little changed as most blue chips traded sideways.

Wall Street was similarly becalmed with the Dow Jones up just one point in the first few hours. European bourses did better as the ECB upped its forecast for eurozone growth for this year and next, while keeping interest rates unchanged at 1%.

High-flying computer chip designer ARM Holdings flew a little lower today after broker Panmure Gordon reiterated its "sell" recommendation and cut its price target for the stock to 265p from 275p.

"Our recent conversations with semiconductor industry participants suggest that a weakening macro economy and increased nervousness has caused softness in demand for chips for consumer electronics in recent weeks," the broker said, adding that consensus estimates look "aggressive" and therefore the stock "looks vulnerable to downgrades to consensus".

Tullow Oil was another high profile faller. The company is to buy half-shares in five licences in the East African rift basins of Kenya and Ethiopia. Africa Oil Corp has sold Tullow 50% stakes in blocks 10BB, 10A, 12A and 13T in Kenya and the South Omo block in Ethiopia, an area covering 97,000 square kilometres.

Bid speculation drove the share price of data search software giant Autonomy higher with acquisition-hungry US software giants Microsoft and Oracle in the frame as likely bidders at a price north of 2500p per share.

Takeover talk is also behind the sharp rise in the price of Yellow Pages publisher Yell Group, which is said to be in the sights of private equity groups.

Scottish and Southern Electric is lower after being named in a mis-selling probe by regulator Ofgem. Three other big electricity suppliers are also under investigation - EDF, Scottish Power and nPower.

In company news, AstraZeneca has received approval from the European Commission (EC) for its schizophrenia and bipolar drug Seroquel XR as an add-on treatment for major depressive episodes where antidepressants haven't worked.

Xstrata Zinc's proposed acquisition of Toronto-listed Noranda Income Fund has fallen through after the pair were unable to agree a price.

Royal Bank of Scotland is cutting another 3,500 UK jobs as it trims its back office operations, taking the number of staff axed since the bank was nationalised two years ago to 26,600. The staff cuts are part of a programme that aims to deliver annual savings of £2.5bn.

Britain's largest supermarket Tesco is one of ten bidders battling it out to win the Southeast Asian business of French supermarket chain Carrefour. Up for grabs are 61 stores in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand worth an estimated £650m.

In the FTSE 250, McBride, own-label product specialist, is going well after it posted a sharp rise in profits in the year to June.

Investors also have an appetite for Restaurant Group. The company, which operates the Chiquito and Frankie and Benny's chains, posted a rise in profits and revenues in the 27 weeks to July.

Global recruitment firm Hays was another strong performer. It saw a return to growth in the second half of its financial year, which softened the blow of a 53% slide in pre-tax profits.

Rail and bus company Go-Ahead is cautious on the economic outlook and the prospect of government spending cuts after reporting a fall in profits.

DSG International, soon to become Dixons Retail, bumped up both total group revenue and like-for-like sales by 3% in the first quarter as shoppers responded well to Apple's iPad and the electrical retailer's World Cup promotion. The Currys and PC World owner grew like for like sales by 6% in the UK & Ireland during the 12 weeks ended 24 July.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Man Group (EMG) 229.00p +5.77%
Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,716.00p +5.21%
BAE Systems (BA.) 313.30p +3.74%
Whitbread (WTB) 1,515.00p +3.70%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,183.00p -4.13%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 360.00p -3.77%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 455.60p -3.54%
Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 69.80p -2.99%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Yell Group (YELL) 17.93p +14.13%
Mcbride (MCB) 160.00p +13.48%
SThree (STHR) 260.60p +8.40%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,165.00p +7.08%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 63.10p -4.39%
COLT Group S.A. (COLT) 114.80p -3.53%
Gem Diamonds (GEMD) 191.10p -2.99%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 168.00p -2.61%