“With the shares having risen by 499 per cent from 1.9p following the final results, we feel that much of the short-term upside has now been captured,” the broker told its clients.NSB Retail, which provides software to retailers, added 1p to 15.25p as traders bet that next week’s results will not disappoint. However, its house broker Charles Stanley was not as bullish as Mr Blackbourne. Nestor Healthcare jumped 19.5p to 342.5p on rumours that the group has secured a major staffing contract from the NHS.Motion Media rose 1.12p to 12.12p as Colin Blackbourne, the smaller companies specialist at Shore Capital, was heard to have bought 1 million shares at 12p each, taking his total holding in the videophone maker to more than 7 per cent. The US broker forecasts annual revenue growth of 5 to 6 per cent over the next three years and earnings per share growth of 14 per cent. “If Powerhouse were to go into liquidation, it would result in a reduction in capacity that will improve returns for remaining players,” CSFB said.Yell gained 5.25p to 308.25p as Merrill Lynch started coverage of the recently floated directories group with a “buy” stance and a 340p target price. The Swiss broker raised its rating to “outperform” from “neutral”, set a 160p price target and argued that the collapse into administration of its rival Powerhouse was great for the likes of Dixons and Kesa Electricals, up 2p to 222p. The banking sector weighed heavily on the index as Abbey National fell 22.25p to 544.75p, HSBC dropped 18.5p to 798p and Royal Bank of Scotland dropped 36p to 1,582p.Dixons ticked 1.5p higher to 141.5p following an upgrade from Credit Suisse First Boston.

The techMARK 100 finished the day 4.8 points lower at 899.0.Blue chips also took a tumble as the FTSE 100 closed down 33.4 points at 4,217.4. Elsewhere in the sector, Financial Objects dropped 3p to 41.5p after the group posted widening first-half losses and warned that the second half of the year would be tough. The news unnerved some brokers especially ABN Amro, which reiterated its “sell” rating on Sage. The setback at Hewlett-Packard is particularly bad news for Morse, down 3p to 147.5p.

The group resells Hewlett-Packard hardware in the UK and Europe and business from the US giant accounts for about 19 per cent of Morse’s total revenues.Meanwhile, in the financial software sector, Sage lost 3.75p to 174p after its American rival Intuit projected wider-than-expected losses for its first quarter. The US semiconductor index stood at its highest level since June last year, indicating a belief among investors that global corporate spending is recovering. As the news filtered into the London market, traders moved to take profits from technology stocks this side of the Atlantic.
Hence, ARM Holdings fell 2.75p to 94.75p, Xansa gave up 5.5p to 112p, LogicaCMG lost 7.75p to 196.25p and Misys retreated 8.75p to 276.25p Earlier in the week sentiment towards techs was riding high. The American group posted weaker-than-expected third-quarter sales and earnings and blamed competitive pressures from its US rival Dell.