ITV shares top FTSE 100 Mr Whittaker also repeated his belief that ITV could return £1.3bn to investors in the next three years, which further bolstered demand for the shares. In the wider market, while the US jobs figures were the focus for traders on Friday, dealers were looking east to China today, with their attention drawn to disappointing economic data that was released over the weekend. With China the world's biggest consumer of the industrial metals, the soft numbers inevitably dragged on the London-listed miners, a major component of the benchmark index. Anglo American lost 41½p to £14.21½, Rio Tinto declined 68p to £27.40 and Vedanta Resources cheapened 29p to £12.12, moves that weighed on the wider FTSE 100, which closed down 11.54 points at 6,400.45 despite a brief rally in the afternoon when credit rating agency Standard & Poor's lifted its outlook on the US to "stable" from "negative." News of a £110m two-year contract extension for Amec - to support BG Group's operations in the central North Sea - helped shares in the energy services company put on 2½p to £10.02. However, the win wasn't enough to spur Oriel Securities analysts into upgrading their stock recommendation from "hold." They said the extension was "a small positive" and argued that "whilst Amec's strong cash-flow generation means the company could use its balance sheet to drive upgrades, we see more obvious opportunities elsewhere at present." G4S, the under-pressure security guard supplier, dipped 1.8 to 242.8p despite revealing that Microsoft founder Bill Gates had built a 3.23pc stake in the company. But AstraZeneca added 6½p to £33.08 on the announcement it was buying US respiratory pharmaceuticals group Pearl Therapeutics for as much as $1.15bn (£740m), with the price dependent on the California-based company's performance. Panmure Gordon analyst Savvas Neophytou said that Astra's respiratory pipeline was "threadbare" and that this deal filled "one big hole." Worries the LongRiver consortium bid for Severn Trent was close to collapsing dragged shares in the water company down 124p, or 6pc, to £19.46, the single biggest decline on the FTSE 100 on Monday. The utility rejected a sweetened offer of £22.00 late on Friday night, and LongRiver said that there would be no further offers "in the absence of meaningful engagement" from Severn Trent. The Takeover Panel's put-up-or-shut-up deadline expires tomorrow. Elsewhere in the utilities sector, National Grid slipped 4 to 743½p after Deutsche Bank reiterated its sell advice on the shares. "Despite regulatory price controls in the UK and the US allowing returns above the cost of capital, we believe asset growth will need to be funded mainly through scrip and leverage," analyst Martin Brough said. Sustaining National Grid's dividend policy in the long term will require ongoing real returns on regulated equity above 10pc, which looks optimistic to us. On the second-tier FTSE 250 - up 20.18 points at 14,025.19 - Betfair, the subject of a failed £1bn takeover approach last month, increased 24 to 836p, courtesy of an upgrade to "buy" from "neutral" at heavyweight broker Citigroup. Noting that there is room for a £150m share buyback by the betting exchange and arguing that increasing commissions could lead to a "more dynamic pricing structure," they raised their target price from 880p to 950p - the same level as the final takeover offer from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners. Traders suggested a bear squeeze was responsible for pushing Ocado, the online grocer, 36.2 higher to 312p, a rise of 13.1pc to a record level and the biggest gainer on the mid-cap index. The move also predictably spurred unsubstantiated bid speculation. Towards the other end of the table, dealers heard talk that investment bankers at Morgan Stanley were placing about 8.8m shares in soft drinks maker Britvic, 8½ lower at 500½. The shares are thought to have been offered at a range of 495p to 505p each. Outside the FTSE 250, ink jet printing technology group Xaar jumped 24.5pc, a rise of 169 to a record 807p, following a surprise trading update, in which the company boosted its full-year revenue forecast to about 50pc more than the £86.3m generated in 2012. Finally, IGas, up 8¼ at 111p, revealed after the close that Macquarie Bank sold about 1.2m shares in the group, leaving it with some 21.3m warrants in the shale gas company.