Buys outnumber sells as Falklands find buoys oil explorers
Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse comments: "Buys continued to outnumber sells in the week ended Tuesday (18th May), with Rockhopper Exploration (RKH) leading the charge on oil exploration and production stocks and Man Group (EMG) also proving popular among TD Waterhouse customers following the announcement of its acquisition of GLG Partners.
"Rockhopper was the third most bought and fourth most sold stock among TD Waterhouse customers as investors await results of the company's oil discovery off the Falkland Islands. The company said on Wednesday (19th May) it plans to make a further update in the next 10-15 days, including an estimate of the size of the discovery. Another firm to benefit from the ongoing speculation around the Rockhopper find was Desire Petroleum plc (DES), which is looking for oil in the same region and was the tenth most bought and sold stock among our customers.
"Other popular oil and gas stocks this week included Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP), on the back of optimism about its operations in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, and Regal Petroleum (RPT). Another popular choice was BP (BP), which appears as the sixth most bought and sold stock in our top ten as there in, due to ongoing fears about the long-term impact of the leak from one of its wells in the Gulf of Mexico.
"The interest in oil and gas companies, however, could not move Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) and The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) from their grip on the number one and two positions in our top ten, accounting for a third of the most popular buys and a similar proportion of the sells.
"Elsewhere, Man Group entered the top ten after agreeing to acquire GLG for $1.6 billion to create the world's largest hedge fund management company, while Vodafone Group (VOD) moved up to seventh in the top ten buys as the company reported an increase in annual group revenue and results that exceeded the mobile phone provider's ‘upgraded guidance' across all measures."