Investors lent a crutch to shares in Smith & Nephew (LON:SN.) on Monday amid reheated takeover bid rumours.
Shares in the maker of artificial hip and knee joints were 21p healthier at 1,165p as fresh talk did the rounds about a possible approach by US rival Johnson & Johnson.
J&J was rumoured to be preparing a bid for the UK company of between £15 and £16 per share, valuing it at a possible £14.3bn.
Speculation about a J&J takeover of S&N goes back years. Reports as far back as 2011 suggested that J&J had made a £7bn offer, only for S&N to rebuff it as too low.
Another US orthopaedics company, Stryker, is said to have been interested in S&N last year but then seemed to backpedal by creating a US$2bn share buyback fund.
Elsewhere, the start of the new week brought little optimism with it for investors, with the FTSE 100 ending as flat as a pancake.
Footsie fell away from its session highs as the afternoon went on, with widening losses in the mining sector out-weighing the morning gains made by the index’s healthcare stocks.
Glencore (LON:GLEN) lost 5.55 to 119p while Anglo American (LON:AAL) eased 3.5% to 694p.
Michael Hewson at CMC Markets, said: “[commodity] prices have slipped back a touch after three days of gains, however comments from Fed officials that the recent rate decision was a close call has seen prices pull back somewhat.”
Having been more than 30 points higher midway through the afternoon session, the index closed just 4 points to the good at 6,108.
Holding the index back was RSA (LON:RSA) after Zurich announced the shock move to drop its bid for the company.
RSA's stock fell more than a fifth to 400p after Zurich said it was withdrawing due to a deterioration in its own trading.
Markets across Europe fared slightly better, with the Dax in Frankfurt paring losses to stand 30 points up as traders digested news that car maker Volkswagen had breached US air pollution tests, leaving it facing potential fines of US$18bn.
Back in the UK, it wasn’t all bad news, as drug group Shire (LON:SHP) got a 55p shot in the arm to 4,800p after the European Commission approved its attention deficit hyperactivity disorder treatment Intuniv.
In small caps, Cluff Natural Resources (LON:CLNR) had its underground coal gasification (UCG) plans have been boosted by an independent economic consultant.
The report claimed some £12.8bn could be added to the UK economy over the long term. Shares rocketed 15.8% to 4.2p.
Also higher was Providence Resources (LON:PVR), which said that, through a strategic and incentivised collaboration agreement, Schlumberger will work with Providence in the Southern Porcupine and Goban Spur basins in its exploration. Shares nudged 1.8% higher to 14p.
Conversely, JQW (LON:JQW) was lower as it has been forced to suspend operations and fined RMB18,000 for violations of the advertisement law of the People's Republic of China.
The violations of advertising regulation arise from client websites that the Company hosts on its website. Shares dropped 45% to 5.6p.
