Playtech hit by Malaysia worries The company does not break down its earnings from Asia by country. In its third-quarter trading update last month the company said only that it had generated 36pc of its revenues from Asia. However, Playtech did disclose details of its Malaysia exposure in the prospectus it issued to accompany its move to the main market of the stock exchange two years ago. For the year ending December 31 2011, the company generated about 8.4pc of gross income from the country and analysts reckon the proportion is now higher. It was only after trading had finished for the day that Playtech issued a statement to the stock exchange, saying it had noted "the recent movement in its share price following speculation in relation to developments in the Malaysian market." The company is monitoring the position closely and, regardless of the potential impact of any changes in the Malaysian market, remains confident of meeting the latest market consensus... for 2014 and beyond. Playtech finished the session as the biggest faller in the FTSE 250, which itself dipped 11.2 points to 15,515.13. The FTSE 100 did better and closed up 12.01 at 6,551,15, helped by reassuring comments from Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, who said policy makers were "unanimous" that the ECB would provide more economic stimulus if needed. Supermarket shares enjoyed strong gains, with the three listed grocers and Marks & Spencer among the biggest risers in the FTSE 100. Wm Morrison jumped 10.1p, or 6.2pc, to 172½p, despite reporting a 6.3pc slide in like-for-like sales during the third-quarter. However, the group narrowed its full-year profit forecast to £335m-£365m, from £325m-£375m, which was welcomed by analysts, as was progress on reducing net debt. The positive sentiment spilled over onto J Sainsbury, up 14.9p at 262.2p, and Tesco, 5¾p better at 181½p. Traders noted that there are large short positions in all the grocers, and so bear closing would have pushed supermarket shares higher. The sharp rise in Sainsbury's also inevitably led to familiar speculation during morning trade of revived bid interest from Qatar. While the rumour regularly surfaces, the timing of the talk was intriguing. Later in the session Songbird Estates disclosed that the Qatar Investment Authority and Brookfield Property Partners had made a takeover approach, sending the Canary Wharf landlord surging 58p to 320p. M&S advanced 26.3p to 470.4p as brokers including UBS issued upgrades following the retailer's encouraging first-half results on Wednesday. Analysts at the Swiss bank reckoned improvements in gross margin at M&S's general merchandise division, which is mainly clothing, meant the retailer was on course to become the "next Next." Amec, a supplier of engineering services to the oil and gas sector, added 54p to £10.67 after analysts at the same broker said they had held an encouraging meeting with the company's finance chief Ian McHoul, who reassured them about its pending acquisition of Foster Wheeler. Amec shares lost ground earlier in the week after Foster Wheeler posted lacklustre results. Relief that Spire Healthcare had renewed its contract with Bupa saw shares in the private hospitals group run 15.3p higher to 299.3p. The announcement was warmly received, as Spire generates about 21pc of its revenues from Bupa, according to Numis. But Fidessa, which provides trading systems familiar to many in the City, dipped 18p to £23.77after issuing an update containing little that was new. Indeed, Numis analyst David Toms said the announcement was "almost-word-for-word identical" to the outlook statement Fidessa issued with its half-year results in August. Finally, there was interest in Ten Alps, the small-cap media group founded by Bob Geldof, amid talk an overhang of 7m shares had been cleared. The stock lost 0.125p to 0.325p.