Hewlett Packard offer boosts software shares

Shares in software companies provided a rare case of market buoyancy, as the£7bn bid for Autonomy by Hewlett Packard raised hopes that rival operations may also become takeover targets. Shares in Autonomy led the FTSE 100 risers, jumping by 74.4% to 2,490p, after HP offered £25.50-a-share for the company in a deal that will net co-founders Mike Lynch and Richard Gaunt £566m. Shares in Arm Holdings , the Cambridge-based semiconductor and software group was the FTSE 100's second highest riser, up 2.0% at 488.8p. Misys , the IT group focussing on financial services, led the FTSE 250 risers, increasing by 11.2p, or 4.7%, to 245.9p. Micro Focus , the software maker and consultant, saw its shares rise by 3.15% to 262p. "We continue to see Micro Focus as a likely bid candidate give multiple approaches already in place and the attractive valuation," said Rajeev Bhal, a software analyst at Matrix Group . Shares in Swiss banking software maker Temenos rose by 4.7% and Germany's Software AG increased by 2.5%. "Temenos has a strong product and routinely tops industry league tables for new customer wins, and has demonstrated in the past its ability to recover from setbacks," Bhal said.