Sefton resources most popular as share price surges

Darren Hepworth, Trading and Customer Services Director, TD Waterhouse comments: "There were several new entrants to the top ten buys and sells tables this week, as TD customers traded an array of stocks including financials, resources, pharmaceutical and retail, week ending Tuesday, 17 May. New top ten stocks made up over a third of the top ten buys and nearly 40% of the top ten sells this week. Meanwhile, the FTSE fluctuated both above and below the 6000-mark and finished the week by closing at 5,861 on Tuesday (17 May)."

Darren Hepworth continues: "Sefton Resources (SER) made an unprecedented appearance in both the top ten buys and sells this week, surging into first position in both tables, as an independent report published last week valued the Aim-listed company's Kansas, US, project at around £62m. The oil and gas explorer's share price shot up to a closing price of more than 8p on Friday (13 May) as a result, having closed at below 2p two days earlier (Wednesday, 12 May).  

"Solo Oil (SOLO) re-entered both tables after a week long hiatus as an upward shift in the company's share price on Tuesday (17 May) appeared to spark trading activity among our customers. Sound Oil's (SOU) shares also rose sharply on Tuesday (17 May) after it was given the green light for the planned completion operation of the Marciano-1ST well on its Fonte San Damiano concession. The independent oil and gas exploration company entered the buys table this week in eighth place.

"Staying with resources, mining firm ECR Minerals (MCR) announced on Monday morning (16 May) that initial tests at its new gold prospect in Argentina had returned ‘numerous high grade results'. The news was enough for ECR to creep into the top ten sells in 10th place. 

"ECR was pipped to ninth place in the sells by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which announced Thursday (12 May) that it had initiated a share buyback and formed an alliance with AstraZeneca and the University of Manchester to create a new UK-based centre for inflammatory disease research.  

"Finally, trading activity among the banks accounted for just 20% of the sells and just under that figure (19.3%) for the top ten buys. Barclays (BARC) and Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) placed at third and fourth, respectively, in the buys table, with Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) joining Lloyds in the sells, the two banks taking seventh and third places, respectively."