FTSE 250 movers: Oil stocks higher as Saudi Arabia boosts prices

Oil stocks were in demand on Tuesday as traders played catch-up with gains in crude futures over the last few days. During the weekend Saudi Arabia increased its official price for Asian oil buyers, which markets interpreted as a sign of improving demand. The battered shares prices of energy and exploration outfits such as Premier Oil lead the advance, alongside gains in the likes of Hunting and Soco International.

Tate & Lyle kept investors sweet following reports that Japan’s Ajinomoto was eyeing up its alternative sweetener business Splenda. Johnson & Johnson, the owner of the consumer rights to Splenda, in December hired Goldman Sachs to explore a separate sale of its Splenda brand. There was also talk over the weekend regarding the continuing search by food ingredient manufacturers globally for alternatives to natural sugar.

Stocks in Ocado were moving higher ahead of the release of the British Retail Consortium’s shop price index for March which was due for release just after midnight on Tuesday. Kantar Worldpanel’s latest grocery market statistics for the 12 weeks ending 29 March were also to be published on Wednesday.

Tullow Oil received a boost from the decision taken by analysts at Credit Suisse to review the value they assigned to the contingent resource base in the South Lokichar basin, onshore Kenya. The Swiss broker revised its price target on the stock to 489p from 420p previously.

Shares in Vedanta Resources rose after its subsidiary Cairn India Limited filed a Writ Petition with the Delhi High Court to quash a $3.3bn tax charge.

FTSE 250 - Risers
Premier Oil (PMO) 150.80p +12.96%
Hunting (HTG) 540.00p +8.89%
Soco International (SIA) 172.60p +8.08%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 145.60p +6.90%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 170.00p +6.65%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 509.00p +6.22%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,016.00p +5.56%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 300.30p +5.48%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 281.40p +5.35%
Regus (RGU) 235.90p +4.84%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Allied Minds (ALM) 680.50p -1.09%
Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate (KWE) 1,098.00p -1.08%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 350.00p -1.05%
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 204.10p -0.83%
Computacenter (CCC) 677.00p -0.81%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 165.90p -0.66%
Cranswick (CWK) 1,415.00p -0.63%
Playtech (PTEC) 790.50p -0.57%
Michael Page International (MPI) 531.00p -0.56%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 318.40p -0.47%