Vedanta takeover rumours raise FTSE

Lloyds TSB rose 4.85%, or 23 points, to 497p despite reports it may reveal £150m of write downs this year due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Alliance & Leicester rose 4.59%, or 31.5 points, after reports say Credit Suisse gave it £4bn on similar terms to the emergency funding it received from the Bank of England. Northern Rock fell 5.74%, or 6.7 points, to 110p after economist said its total emergency borrowing would hit £30 by the end of the year. The Dow Jones rose 0.39%, or 51.94 points, to 13363.67c. American Express rose 2.71%, or 1.54 points, to 58.43c after the credit card com...