Report filed at 1620hrs

Another turn on the rumour mill has kept ARM Holdings at the top of the FTSE leaderboard for a second day in a row.

The chip designer – which is responsible for the microchips in most of the world’s mobile phones is now believed to be firmly on the radar of Apple, which is considering bringing it in-house.

According to reports emerging this afternoon, the firm could cost somewhere in the region of £3 billion.

This was sufficient to ensure that ARM finished top of the pile, up 3.35 per cent at 258.9 pence Autonomy gave pursuit, up nearly 3 per cent in the closing minutes of the day at 1,834.0 while Intercontinental Hotels Group also gained, rising 2 per cent to 1,075.0 pence.

There was no shortage of losses on the FTSE, however, as the issue of Greece’s sovereign debt reared its ugly head once more.

British Airways’ turbulent run ensured that it led the fallers as its share price found itself unable to take off once more – much like many of its planes earlier in the week.

BA’s losses remain the focus of traders following the closure of British airspace earlier in the week following the eruption of the Icelandic volcano. The carrier’s share price descended once more by 3.4 per cent to 225.5 pence.

Top ten trades
Source: TD Waterhouse
Thursday 22 April 2010

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Buy
1. Royal Bank of Scotland Group, 24.1 per cent
2. Lloyds Banking Group, 14.4 per cent
3. Barclays, 13.9 per cent
4. Xstrata, 10.7 per cent
5. Aviva, 4.6 per cent
6. ARM Holdings, 4 per cent
7. Rio Tinto, 3.8 per cent
8. Punch Taverns, 2.4 per cent
9. Prudential, 2.3 per cent
10. Regal Petroleum, 2.3 per cent

Sell
1. Royal Bank of Scotland, 31 per cent
2. Lloyds Banking Group, 12.1 per cent
3. Taylor Wimpey, 10.1 per cent
4. Barclays, 5.4 per cent
5. Solo Oil, 4.7 per cent
6. Game Group, 4.7 per cent
7. Barratt Developments, 4.4 per cent
8. Punch Taverns, 3.4 per cent
9. Seaenergy, 2.5 per cent
10. Persimmon, 2.4 per cent