An energised week for oil and gas investment

Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse comments: "AIM-listed oil and gas explorer, Empyrean Energy attracted strong investor interest this week and ranks as 8th most popular buy and 3rd biggest sell. The company's share price rocketed by over 100% after it confirmed a commercially-viable gas discovery at its Sugarloaf project in Texas. Though this and the current high oil prices have sweetened the mood amongst long-term investors, some reports have suggested production rates at Sugarloaf could fall rapidly a year into the project.

"Meanwhile US oil group, Nighthawk Energy was also popular amongst TD Waterhouse investors, with shares hitting an annual high of 70.50p after extensive bid speculation and positive drilling results at a ranch in Colorado, USA. Shares were buoyed 8% for the week by this news but investor hysteria has been stifled by analyst sources which have questioned the likelihood of a foreign buyout in view of the current political climate.

Rigby continues: "Some of our shrewd investors took profits from UK supermarket giant Tesco this week after the retailer posted its full-year results. Almost three-quarters (73%) of our investor sells in the stock took place on Tuesday, after shares closed up 7.29%. CEO Sir Terry Leahy punched back at recent reports of a sales slowdown at the beginning of the week to announce an 11% growth for the financial year.

"Finally, the old adage of ‘buy low and sell high' appears to have rung true this week for our investors, as UK banks take up the top six positions on our most popular stock buys and accounted for three-quarters of these trades. Amidst concerns about tightened mortgage lending and the uncertain property market in the UK, our retail investors continue to increase their exposure to banking stocks.

"At the time of writing there is speculation that the Government will announce details of a new lending programme to ease pressure on UK banks that will allow them to swap their mortgage-backed assets for government bonds. It is hoped this will make intra-bank lending easier which in turn, could help ease pressures on the credit and housing markets. Views are currently mixed on whether this is a government bail out that will only provide short term relief to the credit crunch, but full details of any Government plan would need to be viewed before a full judgment can be made."