Alex Ferrari, an MTV executive, was quoted in reports at the end of last week, from a conference in Cannes, as saying: "Flextech is in play and we're interested".Flextech has been valued at between £350m and £750m. Media industry sources, however, suggested that Telewest remained committed to Flextech and that MTV's interest had not translated into an approach.Online Travel ticked 0.25p lower to 22p despite news that the group had won new business worth £7m.. Evolution Beeson Gregory was upbeat about the presence of Barrick on Highland's shareholder register. "Barrick will be a strong partner and provide underpinning to the Highland share price along with technical know-how to develop current projects," the broker predicted.Telewest shares gained 0.25p to 2.20p, on rumours that the cable company had been approached by US media giant Viacom for its Flextech content business. Barrick Gold, the world's number two gold producer, took up a 10 per cent tranche of Harmony's holding while the remaining 21 per cent stake was placed with institutional investors.

The South African group is believed to have been forced into the sale by local foreign exchange regulations.Meanwhile, Highland announced that it had entered into an agreement to issue a further 27.5 million shares to Barrick at 235p. This will raise £70m for the group and leave Barrick with a 29 per cent stake. Russia has been very much in vogue of late among investors and multinationals.Global oil majors have been busy snapping up local assets while only last week Russia was upgraded to investment grade by Moody's Investor Service. Carpetright shares have been a great performer over the past three and a bit months as they have soared from the 600p level.Highland Gold Mining ticked 5p higher to 257.5p as the AIM-listed Russian gold producer disclosed that South Africa's Harmony Gold had sold its 31 per cent stake in the group. Yesterday Baroness Wilcox, a non-executive at the carpet retailer, picked up £30,000 of shares at 813p pushing the stock 10.5p higher, to an all-time high of 810p.

In August, Tony Bramall, the chairman of CD Bramall, told investors: "The year has started well, with the anticipation of a strong September and mindful of our current order take, I am confident of a good outcome to the year."Despite the recent rise by Carpetright stock, directors continued to add to their holdings. The group has benefited greatly from the strong UK car registration market. Investec Securities expects a pre-tax profit of £6.1m from EMH for the first half and forecasts profits to top £11m by the year-end Recent news from peers has been very upbeat. However, despite the put down from the company, shares in the group finished the day at session highs.

Market professionals suggested that a more probable explanation for the stock's jump is the clearance of a large seller from the market.European Motor Holdings gained 10p to 188.5p as brokers predicted that tomorrow's interim results from the car dealer will impress. Elsewhere in the sector RMC gained 4p to 670p and Aggregate Industries gained 2.75p to 89.75p.Morgan Crucible jumped 10.5p to a 16-month high of 136.5p as vague whispers of a bid for the engineer did the rounds of City dealing rooms A spokesperson for the company denied the speculation. Credit Suisse First Boston yesterday poured cold water on suggestions of a move on the group from one of the UK's big four banks but argued that a takeover of the struggling bank by a foreign player such as National Australia Bank cannot be ruled out. Meanwhile, the wider FTSE 100 finished the day 28.2 points lower at 4,334.1 amid profit taking after the blue chip index hit a 13-month high on Monday.The building materials giant Hanson rose 2.5p to 427.5p after its US peer Vulcan Materials raised its guidance for third-quarter earnings, thanks to an uptick in sales caused by improving weather conditions The US accounts for a large chunk of Hanson profits. Since then, however, things have become a lot less cheerful for bond investors, which in turn could well cause Abbey to disappoint the market at its trading update on Wednesday 29 October.Abbey's share price was greatly buoyed last week by speculation of a bid for the group. It did well from bond sales during the first half of the year, as this was a time when fixed-income securities were booming.