Markets today: 5 things you may have missed

• Smith & Nephew is extending yesterday's gains and is top of the FTSE 100 in morning trade on Thursday after a press report of a planned takeover bid from US rival Stryker. The orthopaedics company is up 3.6pc to £10.29.

• Following a close second on the main index is Weir Group, also due to takeover speculation. The company has now abandoned efforts to acquire its Finnish rival Metso after a second, improved offer was rejected. That failure to merge could now make Weir, which is frequently the subject of takeover speculation, a target for the big players such as General Electric. Weir is up 1.9pc to £26.30.

• At the bottom end of the FTSE 100 is B&Q owner Kingfisher, after it reported financial results below expectations. The retailer reported a 20pc rise in first quarter retail profit and said it would pay a £100 special dividend. But the impact on UK margins and weak performance in France and China pushed Kingfisher down 5.8pc 393.38p.

• On the FTSE 250 merger speculation is pushing Man Group higher after it confirmed it was in talks to buy US asset manager Numeric Holdings. The hedge fund manager topped the mid-cap index, up 4.9pc to 99.45p.

• Meanwhile, water company Severn Trent reported a 7pc rise in annual underlying pre-tax profit to £269.1m), beating the analyst consensus. The water supplier also said it was paying a dividend of 80.4pc for the 2013/14 financial year, a 6pc rise, which helped push it up 0.3pc to £19.38.

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