Booker shares in demand on deal approval Like Booker, the wider market also climbed higher with the FTSE 100 advancing 47.91 points to 6,529.41 - a fresh five-year high - and the FTSE 250 up 112.35 at 14,084. Encouraging US jobs data bolstered investor sentiment today, ensuring that Wednesday's bout of profit-taking was a minor setback. Temporary power group Aggreko, up 126p at £19.65, led the FTSE 100 higher, with traders buoyed by news of a contract win in Africa. Following two profit warnings in quick succession last year, sentiment towards the company has since turned, helped by strong full-year results earlier this month. But miners were on the back foot amid worries that China, the world's biggest consumer of industrial metals, may look to tackle inflation rather than bolster growth. Rio Tinto fell 66p at £33.11, Evraz shed 4.7 to 246.3p and BHP Billiton declined 14 to £20.93. The retail sector drew attention, with supermarket Wm Morrison rising 4.6 to 276.2p on news it was in talks with FTSE 250 company Ocado, 32.6 better at 170p, about setting up an online business. Mid-capper Home Retail, the owner of Argos and Homebase, climbed 16 to 148.9p, after lifting it full-year profit estimates for the second time this year. Home Retail and Ocado are both well known for speculators taking large short positions in them, and traders were covering these off today, accounting for the large gains seen in both stocks. Elsewhere among the retailers, Marks & Spencer, which rose for the first time since last Thursday and closed 12.6 higher at 371.6p, attracted rehashed bid speculation that was dismissed by cooler heads in the market. Falling furthest on the FTSE 100 was Carnival, 55p lower at £24.30 after another incident on one of its vessels. The cruise operator's Carnival Dream was hit by a generator problem that left it stuck in a Caribbean port. The mishap follows a fire on the company's Triumph vessel just last month that also weighed on the group's shares. Back on the FTSE 250, there were buyers in Kentz after the engineer announced its second contract win in Canada in less than a fortnight. The group said the value of the work for Imperial Oil Resources, at the Athabasca oil sands in northern Alberta, was "significant" and would last until 2016. Analysts at Oriel Securities reckoned the contract may be worth $150m (£100m) to $250m to Kentz, which ended the day up 34.9 at 412.9p. Well-received full-year earnings from property group Savills, 39½ higher at 595p, and internet gambling software developer Playtech, up 38 at 613p, stoked demand for their shares. A cautious appraisal of Man Group from analysts at Citigroup and RBC Capital Markets did not deter traders, who lifted the shares 1.6 to 103.8p. Citigroup added the beleaguered hedge fund company, which has been hit by clients taking money out of its funds, to its so-called "least-preferred" list and described the shares as risky because of its "high degree of dependence" on its troubled AHL fund. Peter Lenardos at RBC was also wary and argued that "while Man remains intently focused on investment performance, there is no guarantee that net inflows will follow." Mr Lenardos expects net outflows of $3.6bn in the first quarter of 2013 - Man's worst quarter since at least 2005, he added. Taking the wooden spoon on the mid-cap index was precious metals digger Hochschild Mining, down 14.2 at 303.3p. The shares remained weak in the wake of the group's full-year results on Wednesday, with analysts fretting over mounting costs. Thomas Cook, which returns to the FTSE 250 on Monday, advanced a further 22¾, or 22.6pc, to 123½p, adding to the 15.8pc gain seen a day earlier when chief executive Harriet Green impressed the market with her turnaround plan for the holiday group. Analyst upgrades followed today, with some in the market also noting that index tracker funds will need to start buying Thomas Cook shares to accommodate for it rejoining the mid-cap index. Oil and gas group Gulf Keystone Petroleum, one of the biggest companies on Aim and which has a large following among retail investors, was weighed down by a cut to "hold" from "buy" at Peel Hunt and slipped 3½ to 187p. The group will soon by joined by Falcon Oil & Gas, which today sought admission to Aim and the Irish market. The company is chaired by John Craven, a veteran of the oil industry.