Financial News

LONDON (ShareCast) - Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW.L - news) was in favour today after an upbeat note on the company from Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 - news) .

Tullow remains Deutsche's top pick among UK oil explorers and producers, following a spectacular run of success with its exploration prospects. Meanwhile, Tullow's next well, Ngassa-2, is 'undoubtedly the most binary it has drilled for some time,' the bank notes.

The Ngassa-2 well 'tests deep potential below Lake Albert (Uganda), where reservoir development/hydrocarbon charge remain key risks. However, the upside is also material. Ngassa could double the discovered gross resource in Uganda, tripling Tullow's net exposure,' Deutsche Bank said. The bank has raised its price target for Tullow from 1010p to 1165p.

On the downside, defence stocks Cobham (LSE: COB.L - news) and Rolls-Royce remain in the doldrums after bearish broker comment yesterday which suggested that a reduction in military commitments by the US and UK in Afghanistan and Iraq will hurt the companies' order books.

FTSE 100 - Risers Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 228.75p +6.77% Severn Trent (LSE: SVT.L - news) (SVT (SVTV.PK - news) ) 1,171.00p +3.81% Tullow Oil (TLW) 996.00p +3.75% Home Retail Group (HOME) 257.00p +3.63% Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT.L - news) (JMAT) 1,242.00p +3.24% Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 672.50p +2.91% Balfour Beatty (LSE: BBY.L - news) (BBY) 339.25p +2.88% Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS (LSE: RBS.L - news) ) 36.30p +2.83%

FTSE 100 - Fallers Pearson (LSE: PSON.L - news) (PSON) 620.00p -2.67% Cobham (COB) 169.90p -2.52% British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 451.25p -1.74% Reed Elsevier (Amsterdam: 273044.AS - news) (REL) 467.25p -1.68% Whitbread (LSE: WTB.L - news) (WTB) 877.50p -1.35% Liberty International (LII) 406.00p -1.28% WPP Group (WPP (LSE: WPP.L - news) ) 425.00p -1.16% Compass Group (LSE: CPG.L - news) (CPG) 343.00p -1.15%