Analysts at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein expect the group to report first-quarter revenues up 46 per cent to $324.8 million (£185.4 million) on Tuesday, compared with the same period last year, on the back of growth in revenues from poker and blackjack games.

However, PartyGaming’s house broker reckons that the shares are being unnecessarily restrained by fears over possible American legislation that could outlaw online gambling. In a note to clients, the broker said that the company’s share-price rating exaggerates both the likelihood of prohibitive legislation and the possible impact of any legislation that is passed.

Richard Carter, an analyst at Numis Securities, took the opportunity to upgrade his full-year profits forecasts, stretching the top end of expectations. He raised his pre-tax profits forecast by 4.4 per cent to $738 million, on the back of indications that the company had had a strong trading period. This pushed PartyGaming’s shares up 6¾p to 151¾p, leaving them on course to breach the 2006 high of 154p, reached in January.

The benchmark FTSE 100 index made a cautious start but closed up 28.6 points at 6,029.4 as Wall Street began positively.

Vodafone’s future as a listed company came back under the microscope, as talk of a private equity-backed break-up approach reared its head again, this time with CVC Capital Partners cited as a potential backer. Talk that City bankers are working on a 150p-a-share approach helped the shares to add 4p to 128¼p.

Man Group traded higher as it revealed that fundraising for its latest product had brought in more than expected. The shares rose 105p to £25.57.

The prospect that ICI might go shopping helped the industrials group to make headway, as Cazenove upgraded the stock to “outperform” from “in-line”. Analysts said the Dulux paint maker’s executives had sufficient ambition and a “renewed confidence” that could see them taking advantage of a buoyant level of M&A activity in the sector.

The broker also said that first-quarter trading may have been stronger than previously expected. The shares ended 6¼p higher at 360¼p.

Investors continued to take profits in the mining sector. Anglo American led the fallers, giving up 27p at £23.66. Rio Tinto was 32p lower at £30.60, while BHP Billiton ended down 10p at £11.24p. Antofagasta defied the trend, adding 18p to £23.22 as analysts at Goldman Sachs improved their forecasts for the miner.

Land Securities put in one of the stronger large-cap performances after JPMorgan reiterated its £23.50 target price and said that recent bouts of selling had left the property group’s shares trading at a discount to future net asset value when the shares should be trading at a premium. The shares put on 42p at £18.89.

• NEW YORK: Wall Street shares rose as strength in the technology sector helped the market to weather a rise in long-term interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 7.70 at 11,137.70.

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