FTSE 250 movers: Oil stocks rise on M&A hopes, Go-Ahead upgraded

A host of stocks in the oil sector were performing well on Wednesday after a £47bn takeover of BG Group by Shell sparked hopes it will trigger a new wave of industry consolidation.

Larger players have held up well amid the oil crisis compared with their smaller peers and could now look to snap up struggling producers, analysts said. Tullow Oil, Ophir Energy and Nostrum Oil & Gas were all putting in decent gains.

Precious metal producers such as Acacia Mining were trading lower as gold and silver prices fell. Meanwhile, Egyptian miner Centamin was trading in the red after first-quarter gold output came in 16% lower than the preceding three months, though this was still better than analysts had predicted.

Travel group Go-Ahead was in demand after Nomura upgraded the shares from 'neutral' to 'buy'. The broker said that with a strong dividend yield, attractive valuation and strong growth prospects, the stock is "an attractive proposition for investors".

Sector peer National Express, however, was taken down a peg by Nomura from 'neutral' to 'reduce'.

FTSE 250 - Risers
Tullow Oil (TLW) 327.10p +8.92%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 157.00p +7.83%
Drax Group (DRX) 396.30p +5.88%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 2,545.00p +4.78%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 159.50p +4.66%
NMC Health (NMC) 691.00p +3.91%
PayPoint (PAY) 882.50p +3.70%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 605.00p +3.24%
Michael Page International (MPI) 547.50p +3.11%
RPS Group (RPS) 241.20p +3.08%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Acacia Mining (ACA) 272.10p -3.30%
Bellway (BWY) 1,948.00p -2.06%
Rank Group (RNK) 186.00p -1.90%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 147.50p -1.67%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 579.00p -1.61%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 492.00p -1.60%
AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 992.50p -1.54%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 347.00p -1.50%
Inchcape (INCH) 812.50p -1.34%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 323.80p -1.31%