easyJet Share News (EZJ)

SABMiller surged to the top of the leaderboard this afternoon after the Financial Times reported "rumours" regarding a potential takeover. The paper cited analysts at Santander who last week highlighted "growing market chatter" about the possibility of a merger between SABMiller and Belgian-Brazilian drinks giant Anheuser-Busch InBev. Santander believes that any offer would need to be at a premium of around 40%, which gives SABMiller an enterprise value of $140bn. Weir Group was also a strong riser after Societe Generale upped its rating from 'sell' to 'hold'. Engineering firm Rolls-Royce moved higher following the news it has won a contract worth £50m to supply deck machinery for four large anchor handlers offshore Brazil. The vessels, to be delivered for Edison Chouest Offshore, have been developed to operate in Brazilian waters under an eight-year contract with Petrobas.After initially falling, Imperial Tobacco Group was also in positive territory this afternoon after confirming that it will float logistics business Logista on the Spanish stock exchange, although will retain the majority of shares in the subsidiary. Meanwhile, BT declined after gaining on the back of an upbeat note from Nomura on Monday. Sports Direct fell after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock from 'strong buy' to 'buy' with a target price of 1,100p.easyJet declined following Liberum Capital's decision to cut its target price from 1,700p to 1,650p and reiterated a 'hold' recommendation. Next's share price dropped into the red after the British retailer announced the resignation of its long-running Executive Director and Group Product Director, Christos Angelides. Anglo American was another notable faller, hit by news out late yesterday that talks between it, Lonmin, Impala and the platinum striker had "unfortunately been dissolved without an outcome". FTSE 100 - RisersSABMiller (SAB) 3,404.50p +3.87%Royal Mail (RMG) 508.00p +1.40%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,663.00p +1.10%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,084.00p +0.84%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,416.00p +0.82%Compass Group (CPG) 1,014.00p +0.80%Unilever (ULVR) 2,677.00p +0.79%United Utilities Group (UU.) 900.00p +0.73%Meggitt (MGGT) 527.50p +0.67%Melrose Industries (MRO) 288.30p +0.66%FTSE 100 - FallersBT Group (BT.A) 394.40p -2.88%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 411.90p -2.14%Sports Direct International (SPD) 810.00p -1.82%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,460.00p -1.62%Mondi (MNDI) 1,102.00p -1.52%Old Mutual (OML) 201.50p -1.47%Next (NXT) 6,535.00p -1.36%Glencore (GLEN) 322.40p -1.20%Anglo American (AAL) 1,455.00p -1.12%easyJet (EZJ) 1,590.00p -1.12%NR