Barclays Share News (BARC)

Takeover speculation at M&S stepped up a gear this weekend with Qatar's sovereign wealth fund thought to be mulling a bid for the High Street giant worth eight billion pounds. According to the Sunday Times, the Qatar Investment Authority is said to be assembling a consortium of private-equity investors and has spoken to banks about financing a potential offer. A potential offer is thought to value M&S's shares, which closed Friday's session at 372.5p, at a price of 500p each. Babcock was also higher on reports it has been awarded a four-year £11m contract to supply technical services to the UK Ministry of Defence. Rolls-Royce was lifted by the news the UK government is planning to invest one billion pounds in the aerospace industry. A slump in risk appetite following the Cypriot bailout deal hit banking and mining stocks today, with Barclays, RBS, Lloyds, Kazakhmys and ENRC among the worst performers throughout the day. Financial services group Legal & General was also lower after announcing that it has bought a 46.5% stake in British home builder CALA from Lloyds, marking the group's first direct investment of this kind. Insurance and pensions firm Prudential was in the red after UBS downgraded it from 'buy' to 'neutral' following the stock's recent outperformance.FTSE 100 - RisersMarks & Spencer Group (MKS) 399.70p +7.30%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 837.00p +2.32%Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,090.00p +1.77%Capita (CPI) 897.00p +1.76%Croda International (CRDA) 2,672.00p +1.44%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 416.10p +1.17%Vodafone Group (VOD) 185.40p +1.17%Amec (AMEC) 1,072.00p +1.13%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,096.00p +1.01%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,562.00p +0.97%FTSE 100 - FallersEurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 319.70p -7.81%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 501.00p -6.96%Prudential (PRU) 1,106.00p -4.16%Barclays (BARC) 306.85p -4.12%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 296.00p -3.86%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,123.00p -3.19%Xstrata (XTA) 1,130.50p -2.92%Polymetal International (POLY) 890.50p -2.78%Glencore International (GLEN) 377.15p -2.76%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,722.00p -2.33%NR