The FTSE 100 index of Britain’s leading shares edged higher in after late profit-taking in the U.S. on Friday restricted higher gains, as the takeover battle for ABN AMRO heated up, Reuters reports.
Royal Bank of Scotland added 0.5 percent after the consortium it is leading boosted the cash element of its 71.1 billion euro bid for Dutch bank ABN. The bid is above a rival offer from Britain’s Barclays.
The consortium kept its offer for ABN at 38.4 euros per share, but raised the cash component to 93 percent from about 70 percent before. It said the remaining 5 billion euros of the offer will comprise new RBS shares.
At 0746 GMT the index up 10.9 points or 0.2 percent, at 6,727.6.
With little on the economic diary this session, traders said UK CPI data on Tuesday followed by the Bank of England’s meeting minutes on Wednesday will be closely watched.
“I would describe my stance to the market as extremely vigilant,” says David Buik of Cantor Index. “We’ve come a long way. There is still huge concern about the banking sector and to whether we’re white-washing this sub-prime market problem – not so much over here but in the U.S.