Investors back BP as oil and gas stocks are in favour

As the rumours about BP swirled last week, investors' attention was once again firmly focussed on the oil and gas sector.  Speculation from investors triggered a rally in the share price, which prompted many clients to sell their BP holdings. On Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 September, BP was the most frequently sold stock by Barclays Stockbrokers clients. The initial rush to sell (capitalising on the buoyant share price) was swiftly followed by a shift to purchasing.

Paul Inkster, Head of Product at Barclays Stockbrokers, said: "Oil and gas stocks are certainly in vogue, and our clients have their fingers on the pulse when it comes to the oil and gas and mining sectors.  However, BP was not the only oil and gas player to take centre stage for our clients: Encore Oil was the most traded stock on Monday 4 October. On Monday, Encore announced it had discovered an impressive amount of oil in the North Sea, leading to a 13% increase in its share price and our clients responded by trading heavily; Encore Oil accounted for 6.8% of all trades on Monday, 70% of which were purchases.

"Other high-octane trading levels were demonstrated in Gulf Keystone Petroleum, Rockhopper, Nighthawk Energy and Regal Petroleum, and we have also seen huge interest in the mining sector. Red Rock Resources was extremely popular on Monday 27 September, when their share price gained nearly 80% to reach a record high as a result of its revaluation of gold and mineral interests in Australia, Columbia and Kenya. Solomon Gold tells a similar story. The Brisbane-based gold company recently produced strong results after a gold sampling project, which led the stock to occupy the top spot on Thursday 23 September and 15% of all trades that day."