First oil in Kenya sees Tullow head up FTSE gainers

Equities made headway in Monday trade as Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, signalled that further quantitative easing could be on the cards.

Bernanke’s downbeat comments about the US job market saw equities rise, and came amid a wave of positive US economic data since the start of the year.

The FTSE 100 took on 0.82%, or 48 points, to 5,903 and the Mid-250 index increased 1.45%, or 168 points, to 11,735. See the FTSE’s performance.

Tullow hits oil in Kenya

Kenya’s first oil discovery saw Tullow Oil (TLW.L) shoot to the top of the FTSE 100. Shares added 97p, or 6.6%, to £15.70 as the company reported it had struck oil at the Ngamia-1 well in the north of the country.

Tullow has been exploring in East Africa and also has other drilling operations in Uganda and Ethiopia.

Sanjeev Bahl, analyst at Numis, kept his view of the stock at ‘hold’, and said: ‘Tullow trades at a premium to a historical 15% premium to net asset value. We need greater comfort on resolution of well completion issues at Jubilee and development plans in Uganda before taking a more positive stance.’

Other stock markets in Europe made gains: Germany’s DAX index skipped up 1.2% to 7,079, France's CAC 40 index increased 0.74% to 3,502, and the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares gained 0.84% to 1,089.

Stateside markets also rose: the Dow Jones Industrial Average took on 0.95% to 13,205, the Standard & Poor's 500 index added 0.97% to 1,410, and the Nasdaq Composite index rose 1.28% to 3,107.

Easyjet expects smaller losses

Shares in Easyjet (EZJ.L) took on 34.4p, or 7.5%, to 495.8p as it announced it expects to reduce its losses in the first half of 2012. The airline cut its forecast losses from £160 million-£140 million to £110 million-£120 million and held its outlook for its second-half performance. Analysts at Numis raised their outlook on the stock from ‘reduce’ to ‘hold’ following the news.

Oil and gas exploration company Ophir Energy (OPHR.L) jumped up 78.6p, or 18.8%, to 477.6p after it made its biggest-ever discovery of gas off the coast of Tanzania. Analysts at Investec increased their target price on the stock to 480p, RBC boosted its price guidance to 475p and Canaccord raised its guidance on the company from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’, with a new target price of 445p, up from 392p. 

Shares in Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN.L) also rose on the FTSE 100 to add 10.9p, or 4.4%, to 261p as its funds under management rose by almost £11 billion since the end of 2011.

Mali-based miner Randgold Resources (RRS.L) recovered 255p, or 4.5%, to £59.05 as concerns about the military coup in the country cooled.