Royal & SunAlliance, up 4.25p to 100.5p, was the other large-cap insurance player talked of as vulnerable to a bid. Second-line stocks were also boosted by merger and acquisition hopes. Hot money poured into Stanley Leisure, up 24p to 631p, and London Clubs International, 6p higher at 127.5p. According to yesterday's dealing room gossip, a tie-up between the two could soon be on the cards. The driving force behind such a deal is likely to be the Malaysian conglomerate, Genting Berhad. Stansted's users, principally the low-cost carrier Ryanair, do not much fancy the idea of forking out up to £4bn for what Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's chief executive, calls the aviation equivalent of the Taj Mahal.
The airlines at Heathrow and Gatwick, meanwhile, have warned BAA that it can expect the mother of all rows if they are forced to cross-subsidise a second Stansted runway.The simplest solution would be to junk the second runway at Stansted and build a third one instead at Heathrow, where there would be no shortage of backers among the airlines. Small wonder the share price is below its best.Terminal problems for BAAThe airports operator BAA has decided its airline customers deserve a better deal. It is going to be paid for by staff at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, 700 of whom are being got rid of, by compulsory means if necessary, to produce the cost savings that will enable BAA to lower its landing charges. So far, so lean and mean.But if BAA reckons this small olive branch is going to buy off the bigger revolt it is facing over the funding of a second runway at Stansted it had better think again. Has the time come for a rethink?Tesco's Sir Terry Leahy - always measured, reasonable and single minded in his style - will plainly be arguing his corner with vigour, but even he acknowledges there must be limits, whether imposed or natural, to ability to grow in any one market.That's why he's investing so much in overseas expansion.
Tesco's home market is minuscule by comparison, providing less of a cushion against mistakes. Wal-Mart has a home franchise of unparalleled size and power to spread its wings from. Yet it means that from here on in the company's growth gets higher risk. Rather than driving prices down, Tesco might be tempted to reverse the present trend and start driving them up, for where Tesco leads, everyone else will follow.Mr Hampton wants store development by supermarket chains to be looked at in the same way by the competition regulators as store acquisition.