Blockbuster, £1 billion Spirent bid helps FTSE 250 rise

The latest major bid for a London-listed company had helped the City’s second-tier stock index rise overall in morning trade.

London’s FTSE 250 is outperforming the top-tier index, with the FTSE 100 flat in morning trade.

A blockbuster £1 billion bid for Spirent is helping keep the FTSE 250 positive in London, outperforming the top-tier index, with the FTSE 100 flat.

The FTSE 250 is up almost 53 points overall at 19,301.91, a rise of 0.3%, while the FTSE 100 is flatlining.

A 60% surge for transatlantic takeover target Spirent is making the difference. The Crawley-based telecoms testing firm is up at 172.4p on the brink of the cash offer’s price of 175p per share, including a dividend payout.

Overall, the FTSE 250 fell 48 points to 19,200.87.

Financial stocks are under pressure in opening trade as the FTSE 100 continues to drift lower, with traders looking ahead to tomorrow’s Budget for a full sense of direction.

The main London stock index started the day down 22 points at 7618.75, a slip of 0.3%.

Financial stocks and miners stood out on the list of fallers. Barclays was down 1.8p, or 1.1%, to 169p. Prudential fell 8p to 765p, also a drop of 1%.

Fresnillo, the Mexican silver miner, was up 21p, or 1.5% at 478p.

The above is the detailed content of Blockbuster, £1 billion Spirent bid helps FTSE 250 rise. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!