Shares in Easyjet flew 5.3% higher after analysts at Credit Suisse raised its rating on the airline to “outperform” from “neutral”.Shares in British Gas owner Centrica rose 3% following a report that it could be a bid target.A report on the Wall Street Wires website said there was talk that the company had attracted the interest of a couple of potential buyers.The two companies pushed the FTSE 100 to close up 6.15 points at 7,343.43.Royal Mail was the biggest FTSE 100 faller, down 3.3% at 410.3pIn the FTSE 250, shares in homewares retailer Dunelm rose 3.7% after it reported strong fourth quarter trading.Total revenues for the 13 weeks to 1 July rose 17.7% to £340m, helped by the company’s takeover of home improvement products retailer Worldstores. Like-for-like sales in the quarter were up 3.8%.However, Dunelm said it expected full-year pre-tax profits to be between £109m and £111m, down from £128.9m last year.On the currency markets, the pound fell 0.7% against the dollar to $1.2885 following the release of several weaker-than-expected pieces of economic data. Office for National Statistics data showed that manufacturing and construction output fell in May, and the trade deficit widened.Against the euro, sterling was down 0.4% at 1.1305 euros.
Source: BBC News