Imperial Tobacco (LSE: IMT.L – news) biggest blue-chip riser after bullish Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB – news) note

• Imperial Tobacco has sparked up the bluechips this morning, rising 53p, or 2.49pc, to £22.35 after a bullish note from Goldman Sachs upgraded the cigarette maker to a “Buy” rating. The US bank said that Imperial was due to have an uptick in the businss, could distribute £8.8bn of cash over the next four years and raised the company as a potential attractive takeover target.

• The UK’s biggest phone company BT rose by 8.4 to 379.3p,the most in five months on Friday, after beating analyst estimates for its third quarter earnings. The company said that its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amoritsation (ebitda) for the year will come in at the high end of £6bn to £6.1bn range previously forecast as more customers are lured by its free sport TV channels.

• Brewer SAB Miller sank to become the FTSE 100’s biggest loser after a note from Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 – news) cut the company to “Hold” because of its significant emerging markets exposure. The company lost 84p, or 3pc, to £26.69 in Friday morning trading, which follows an almost 50p drop yesterday on the back of emerging market fears. Drinks rival Diageo (Berlin: GUI.BE – news) , which was Thursday’s biggest faller, also sank by a further 57p to £17.63 during this morning.

• Mid-capper Domino’s Pizza has risen by 19, or 3.9pc, to 534p after stabilising the company with the news that current senior non-executive David Wild will step up to become interim chief executive until another is hired. Shares in the pizza company fell by almost 10pc last month when boss Lance Batchelor said he would leave the FTSE 250 business to join soon-to-be floated Saga, the insurer for the over-50s.

• The FTSE 100 is heading towards a steep January loss this morning as emerging market rout fears continue to weigh on London’s equities. Despite a Wall Street rally overnight, European indices are down across the board. The FTSE 100 has fallen by 75.54, 1.21pc, to 6462.3points below the key 6500 psychological level while the FTSE 250 is 253 lower to 19164 points.