Weir shares up, traders cite media reports of bid speculation

LONDON, March 6 (Reuters) - Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Weir Group rose to the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard on Friday, with traders citing speculation that the engineering firm may be subject to a bid after a slump in its share price in recent months.

Weir Group rose 3.5 percent to 18 pounds, building on a 2.8 percent gain on Thursday, with several media outlets including the Daily Mail and the Telegraph attributing Thursday's move to bid speculation. The Mail added that a private equity consortium might be preparing a 25 pound ($38) break-up offer.

A Weir Group spokesman declined to comment on the market speculation.

($1 = 0.6568 pounds) (Reporting by Alistair Smout and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Atul Prakash)