There appeared to be no other reason for the share price’s huge appreciation, which was almost entirely reversed in after-hours trading.The LSE has become increasingly concerned in recent years about allegations that banks have been guilty of deliberately manipulating closing prices to suit their ends.On this occasion, it is alleged that the bank bought large quantities of Dimension shares in the knowledge that index funds would have to pay the closing price for the stock, whatever its level.These funds, which adjust their portfolios to bear the closest possible resemblance to the FT-SE 100 or another basket of shares, are often obliged to buy and sell shares almost regardless of the prices they pay or receive.On Friday, they were forced to pay up for Dimension Data shares before they entered the FT-SE 100. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of Dimension Data, whose debut in the blue-chip index will mark a major milestone for a company which only floated in London two months ago.Dimension, which is also quoted on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, is the latest of a number of South African companies, including Old Mutual and South African Breweries, to acquire a London listing. It joins the FT-SE 100 at the expense of such luminaries as Rolls-Royce.Index funds have become increasingly popular with investors eager to match the large returns generated in most of the last few years by the FT-SE 100.Their popularity reflects the failure in recent years of other investment strategies, particularly of those fund managers who have tried to find value among old-economy companies that have been neglected by the rest of the market.. London Luton Airport has made veiled threats to impound easyJet aircraft if the low-cost airline does not pay increased landing charges. London Luton Airport has made veiled threats to impound easyJet aircraft if the low-cost airline does not pay increased landing charges.
The direct action, which could start in two week’s time, could bring the feud to the boil and is sure to lead both sides to the courts.It is also threatening to cast a pall over easyJet’s planned £400m flotation on the stock market this autumn.Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyJet’s founder and chairman, has mounted a high-profile war of attrition against London Luton and its 65 per cent shareholder, Barclays Private Equity, in an attempt to stop the airport raising its charges from the current £1.60 a passenger.Graham Roberts, London Luton’s chief executive, says he needs to increase easyJet’s charges to at least £7 per passenger to make money. But easyJet has said this is an abuse of London Luton’s market position, and has appealed to the Civil Aviation Authority to intervene.Last week, though, easyJet suffered a setback, when Chris Mullins, the aviation minister, refused to intervene, saying that London Luton was not in the some dominant position as the other London airports – Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, that are all owned by BAA.This means that when the existing deal runs out, on 1 October, London Luton believes it is free to charge easyJet its published tariff rate, which is up to £12 a passenger.Mr Roberts said he would levy those charges and if easyJet did not pay he “would use all sorts of devices to obtain the money”.

It is understood these include impounding easyJet planes and preventing them from taking off.Ray Webster, easyJet’s chief executive, said that it would take legal action to prevent this happening. It has already said it is willing to go to judicial review or the European Court over Chris Mullins’ ruling this week, and Mr Webster said that easyJet would seek an injunction to stop London Luton raising the airport charges next month.Mr Webster argues that, as London Luton was late giving notice that it was ending the original pricing agreement, which goes back five years, it cannot increase charges until next May.The row over London Luton comes at an embarrassing time for easyJet, as it is putting the final touches to plans to float. Mr Haji-Ioannou will decide next month whether to go ahead with a float this year, or put it off until next.Mr Webster said that easyJet’s budgeting assumes that it will be paying much higher fees to London Luton.The airline has already decided to put on hold planned expansion at London Luton, and instead has developed routes out of Schipol in Amsterdam, Liverpool and Geneva.. Larry Ellison, founder of US software giant Oracle and arch rival of Microsoft supremo Bill Gates, is giving up his salary. Larry Ellison, founder of US software giant Oracle and arch rival of Microsoft supremo Bill Gates, is giving up his salary.
But the 56-year-old computer genius with a penchant for flying fighter planes need not despair. Worth an estimated $47bn – only slightly less than Mr Gates – he will instead receive 20 million share options.It is estimated that the tranche of share options could be worth $483.3m to Mr Ellison in 10 years’ time if the stock appreciates by 10 per cent a year.Filings with America’s Security and Exchanges Commission reveal that last year Mr Ellison received a salary of $208,000 and no bonus. By comparison, Mr Gates was generously rewarded for his stewardship of Microsoft.

The Seattle-based software giant’s latest filings show he was paid a salary of $400,213 plus a bonus of $223,160.Despite these figures, both men derive most of their wealth from their large shareholdings. Mr Gates owns 15.3 per cent of his brainchild while Mr Ellison controls 23.48 per cent of his baby.Mr Ellison and Mr Gates have spent the year vying for the title of the world’s richest man. The Oracle founder briefly overtook his arch enemy earlier this year as the anti-Trust investigation of Microsoft weighed heavily on the value of Mr Gates’s shareholding. The latest estimates by Forbes Global, the US business magazine, suggest the Microsoft founder has once again regained the top spot with a wallet thought to be worth $60bn.Mr Ellison’s business acumen is unquestioned.