POSITIVE broker comment gave support to Carphone Warehouse, on the back of its new “free” broadband launch.

Analysts at Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse revisited their numbers on the mobile phone retailer-turned-telecoms group.

The upgrades come after the group said that it would launch a bundled phone calls and internet access product that it markets as delivering broadband access at zero cost.

Credit Suisse analysts increased their target price on the stock by 68 per cent to 420p on the back of the broadband offer launch, arguing that the new model could deliver profits of £370 million a year by 2010, against expected profits of £270 million under its previous model.

Analysts increased their rating on the stock from “neutral” to “outperform”. Lehman Brothers was more conservative, increasing its target price from 310p to 330p on the back of the new strategy and the company’s latest quarterly trading update. The shares gained 16¼p to 338¼p.

The FTSE 250 index rose above the 10,000 mark in late trading, but dipped back in the last few minutes of trading to close up 30.7 points at 9,997.6.

Soco International, the oil explorer, provided support, rising 149½p to £16.10 on test results from an appraisal well in Vietnam. Analysts at Seymour Pierce said that the result was impressive and could pave the way for an upgrade to previous estimates for Soco’s TGT site.

Greene King fell back 12p to 743½p as analysts played down bid hopes. Yet speculation of interest from a private equity-backed group approach continued to do the rounds.

Rank Group ticked up ½p to 226p as the group’s AGM update revealed flat sales over the past 16 weeks and reduced spending at its Scottish bingo halls with the introduction of the recent smoking ban.

Tomkins gained 14½p to 342½p as Citigroup advised investors to buy into the stock. The broker raised its price target from 330p to 365p.

Tribal Group was 7¼p higher at 222p on its reassuring trading update and continuing support from analysts. Metal-Tech, the metals group, rose 27½p to 233½p on a surge in full-year profits.

London Clubs International closed up 9½p at 124p on talk that Ladbrokes, the bookmaker, is preparing an approach that could value the casinos operator at up to 155p a share.

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