lending 7 points of upside to the index following a media report that the head of its U.S. joint venture Verizon Wireless said he was not interested in buying rival Sprint. Dealers said the report soothed fears that Vodafone would get involved in a costly takeover through its stake in Verizon. HBOS led banks with a 3.6 percent rise after analysts at Morgan Stanley lifted their stance on the bank to "overweight" from "equal-weight". Gas and oil group BG Group firmed 2.4 percent after Merrill Lynch upgraded its rating to "buy". Chemicals company ICI rose 2 percent after Deutsche Bank raised it to "buy" from "hold", and Shire gained 4.7 percent in the wake of a JP Morgan upgrade. British Airways added 2.6 percent to hit a 6-month high, extending Thursday's gains after news of the airline's 3.2 percent rise in December passengers, including a 6.8 percent jump in lucrative premium traffic. Mid-caps were led higher by healthcare software supplier Isoft , which jumped 5 percent on talk a U.S. group was interested in buying the company. In a move mirroring that of M&S, retailer JJB Sports climbed more than 6 percent after news of poor trading sparked talk it was vulnerable to another approach. DX Services , the mail business recently spun off by blue-chip services firm Hays , fell 2 percent after it said revenue from new members and income from various supplementary charges at its Document Exchange unit would fall short of expectations. --SP 2205 Local Time 1905 GMT
