Pursuit sinks after P&G pulls the plug The disappointment was the latest setback for Pursuit shareholders. In December, the company called on shareholders for £9.4m with a rights issue at 100p a share - eight months after raising £8m via a placing at 250p - at the same time as reporting an increased £15.3m loss and the resignation of its chief executive. Paul Kavanagh, of Killik Capital, described the loss of P&G as a "significant blow" for Pursuit. "They've got a tough job in the next few weeks in establishing with their lead investors as to what the right route for the business going forward is and whether there is sufficient in the technology to push shareholder patience further," he added. Pursuit said it would speed up a strategic review of the business to allow for an update to be provided by the end of June. Pursuit's slide aside, the market was on perkier form following a torrid time last week. Even though the weekend's G8 summit brought little to reassure investors beyond the usual platitudes, the FTSE 100 gained 36.86 points to 5,304.48. Bargain-hunting helped the index rise, as did comments from Chinese policymakers suggesting that they could take measures to spur growth. The FTSE 250 edged up 3.61 points to 10,435.51. With the Greek situation remaining "precarious and contagious," scribblers at JP Morgan Cazenove said their preference was for "quality" stocks. Among the 30 "must own" stocks, which they think are likely to perform well over the medium term, were British names, including publisher Pearson, up 4p to £11.41, and BG Group, up 15½p to £12.61. Kingfisher was also liked by the broker. This pushed the DIY-retailer up 2.1 to 273.3p despite other analysts turning more negative. Seymour Pierce cut its rating on the B&Q-owner to "hold" as it reduced its profit forecasts for next year to take account of weaker trading in all of the company's core markets, including France, Britain, China and Poland, and a weaker euro. Hauling the large-caps higher were the miners, as copper prices recovered on a combination of bargain-hunting, short-covering and a weaker dollar. Vedanta Resources led the charge, jumping 49½p to £10.08, while Xstrata added 28.3 to 943p. But silver miner Fresnillo missed out, dipping 39p to £13.19. Although the perilous state of the eurozone continued to sap investor confidence, banks joined the rally. Royal Bank of Scotland put on 0.81 to 20.8p, while Barclays, which announced plans to offload its $6.1bn (£3.9bn) stake in BlackRock, added 3.9 to 180p. Having been short of friends recently, Man Group was more popular after the hedge fund manager revealed a move to diversify its assets by buying investment firm FRM. Man stepped up 3½ to 78.8p. Among the second-liners, Henderson ticked up 3.55 to 96.4p on plans to build a fund management business in Australia. But Lamprell eased 4 to 117p as Nomura cut its rating on the mid-cap oil rig maker to "reduce." Back on the top tier, utilities were out of favour, with Centrica falling 4.4 to 310.6p and United Utilities five lower at 617½p. Consumer giant, Unilever, added 2p to £20.26, after HSBC said it liked its defensive portfolio. Kurdish export hopes spur oil explorers Shares in Heritage Oil spurted up yesterday amid hopes that prospects for Kurdish oil production are brightening. Kurdistan said on Sunday that the region expects to start exporting its crude oil along a new pipeline to the Turkish border by August next year, defying Baghdad in a long-running dispute over who should control the country's oil exports. That spurred hopes that Heritage will be able to export gas from a large field it has discovered in Kurdistan. Heritage said earlier this month that it was working on a plan to be able to start exporting the gas and oil condensate it has found in Kurdistan to Turkey from 2015 Heritage Oil jumped 9½ to 124.6p. Gulf Keystone Petroleum, which is also seeking oil in Kurdistan, rose 13¼ to 207p.