There is talk of an imminent offer at 125p-130p a share from

There is talk of an imminent offer at 125p-130p a share from a foreign bidder. Rhodia, FMC, Solutia and a Moroccan company, OCP, were all mentioned.Among the blue chips, the insurer Royal & SunAlliance shone with a 36.75p increase to 587.75p after good results and a pounds 750m cash return pledge.Williams, the security and fire group, burnt 16.75p to 348.5p due to disappointing results and worries over a possible exit from the FTSE 100.Powergen's results lacked energy and the generator's shares dipped 19.5p to 767.5p, dragging down National Power, 15.5p lower at 487p, and Scottish Power, 18.5p worse off at 581.5p.Dealers turned off BSkyB amid rumours that it was bidding "adieu" to talks with the French rival Canal Plus. The two are in merger talks and developments are expected next week.JKX Oil & Gas completed the party with a 1.75p rise to 8.5p on hopes that the Swiss group National Petroleum might increase its stake from its current 20.2 per cent.Bid whispers spurred the chemical minnow Albright & Wilson to a 14p rise to 109p. Its goliath rival BP Amoco was close behind, surging 45p to 902, as Lehman selected as its top oil pick for 1999.The exploration companies were also buoyant, as renewed bid speculation mixed with the oil price optimism. British Borneo, said to be stalked by a US predator, rose 10p to 115p. Premier Oil put on 1.25p to 11.75p amid vague takeover talk and a Williams de Broe `buy" advice.Enterprise drilled a 16.25p advance to 288p, supported by a Henderson Crosthwaite note, while Lasmo surged 7p to 129.75p. Shell, one of longest- suffering oil stocks, rose 18.75p to 349.5p.

After much battering and bruising at the hands of the depressed oil price, the drillers took comfort by the overnight rise in the Brent oil price.There is a growing feeling that after months in the doldrums, the price could rally as producers contemplate price cuts. Leading stocks were emboldened by a roaring opening on Wall Street, which was showing a triple-digit advance when London closed.The undercard continued its winning run, with the FTSE 250 closing up 27.9 to 5314.8 and the small cap ending 6.9 higher at 2289.4.The oil stocks were the stars of the session. The reason? Misys mistakenly said that Mr Lomax had sold stock for pounds 605.77 instead of 605.77p.Back to the suspect deals - RMC crumbled 28p to 705.5p after several trades at 670-689p, well below the 725p going price.The rest of the market had a solid session with the FTSE 100 finishing 53.1 points higher at 6101.4. But Misys still lost 26.25p to 617.5p.To add insult to injury, the software group admitted it had made a mistake in an announcement on a share sale by the executive chairman, Kevin Lomax.He was previously reported as having netted pounds 120m on the sale, while the real profit is just pounds 1.2m. Under the new set-up, the authorities calculate the final price by averaging out the deals executed in the last 10 minutes.

The information technology company, valued at over pounds 3.6bn, is a strong candidate to be included in the top index after next week's reshuffle.However, yesterday's 4 per cent-plus slump could put paid to Misys' dreams of blue-chip glory. The stock had been bobbing along at around 630p for most of the day when two trades, or a few thousands shares, at 600p were pushed through in the four minutes before the closing bell.The downward effect of the rogue-ish deals was somewhat cushioned by the recently introduced Stock Exchange rules on closing prices. The two groups ended up as the two biggest fallers in the FTSE-250 due to a number of last-minute deals executed below the going price. The trades are believed to have been part of a big programme order from a large institution and were not a deliberate attempt to manipulate the closing price.However, they could have a major impact on Misys' chances to return to the FTSE-100. THE SPECTRE of rogue trades returned to haunt the stock market yesterday, with the software group Misys and the building materials giant RMC hit by some strange deals. Royal & SunAlliance acknowledged that last year had been a disappointing year, although Mr Mendelsohn insisted that the group was not alone in being hit by a catalogue of disasters compounded by weak prices across the board.He said that there were real signs that rates were starting to firm after years of decline.. The figure includes, for the first time, pounds 195m of investment gains, in line with changes in accounting practice right across the the industry.