Gilts

Gilts closed flat, tracking eurozone government bonds that lost steam after an intraday rally, as investors awaited minutes from the Bank of England’s August rate meeting in the next session. The September gilt future closed at 109.09, up four ticks, having earlier come within three ticks of a contract high of 109.48 hit last week.

Rumour of the day

Smith & Nephew (S&N), up 13½p to 632p, led the FTSE 100 amid revived talk of a bid from Zimmer, the American maker of orthopaedic devices. Traders said that the strength of S&N’s British business, illustrated by the group’s recent results, and the strengthening US dollar could make the logic of a transatlantic bid more compelling.

Deal of the day

Clive Snowdon, a nonexecutive director of Hill & Smith, the building and construction products group, bought 3,424 shares in the company at 318.7p per share and another 1,576 shares at 317.2p each. The company said on Monday that its strategy of selective acquisitions had paid off after half-year results came in ahead of expectations.

Bet of the day

With warnings of a recession coming from all quarters and inflation rising, sterling has continued to lose ground against the dollar. Sterling opened yesterday at $1.8552 after hitting a near two-year low of $1.8512 on Monday, but how long will the downward trend last? Spreadex has a September-based Cable contract with a spread of $1.8540-$1.8548.

Tiddler to watch

Beowulf Mining slipped ¼p to 1.875p, despite news from the mineral explorer’s joint venture partner that a big drilling programme at the Ruoutevare project in Sweden, which contains a 140 million tonne inferred mineral resource, including iron, titanium and vanadium, is expected to begin in November.

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