And without the prospect of bids, speculative interest in many stocks would diminish.
Precisely because it has been one of the only assets left standing, it has attracted a lot of speculative interest.
Dealers also reported speculative interest in household goods retailer Rosebys, sending the shares 161C2p higher to 95p.
When it does, this may start to curb speculative interest in the housing market, which has centred on the buy-to-let private rental market.
The absence in India of speculative interest in gold is partly explained by the government's controls on trading gold futures, which were imposed in the 1960s.
Speculative interest in distressed municipal debt is normally extremely limited because while distressed municipalities are not rare, officials willing to walk away from public debts are.
Chinese companies typically set the price-to-earnings ratios of their I.P.O.'s at very high levels, often around 50 times their historical earnings, because new listings have traditionally attracted huge speculative interest in China's nascent stock market.
Elsewhere Northern Rock, up 41p to £10.96, Ladbrokes, 2.75p higher at 432p, and Smith & Nephew, 10.5p better at 635.5p, were three more perennial bid targets again receiving speculative interest.
While there seems to be an element of xenophobia in Burgundian complaints about Mr. Ng and his money, Burgundy drinkers everywhere do have reason to fear a surge of speculative interest in the region and its wines.
