It has been an active day of trading in London so far with investors tracking the latest developments in the European debt crisis and assessing the impact of the News of the World scandal on BSkyB's chances to be taken over by News Corp.
BSkyB (LON:BSY) was the most searched for UK company on the internet today even though the broadcaster did not provide any updates on its planned acquisition by News Corp, which has been mired in controversy.
Shares in BSkyB have fallen sharply over the past few days of trading, sliding to below the price initially offered by News Corp.
News Corp announced late last week that it was shutting down the News of the World tabloid amid allegations that its employees hacked into mobile phones to obtain information.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has written to Ofcom, asking the British regulator to reassess its recommendation for News Corp’s bid for BSkyB in view of the phone hacking scandal.
This means that the bid, even if successful, is likely to face severe delays and take much longer to complete than initially anticipated.
BSkyB shares shed a further 13 pence (1.8 percent) this morning, falling to 702.5 pence.
Premier Oil (LON:PMO) was among the heaviest fallers in the oil and gas sector this morning.
The company dropped 5.5 percent after revealing that its average production in the first half of 2011 slipped from 42,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) a year earlier to 36,600 boepd.
As a result, Premier Oil expects to post average full year production of 40-45,000 boepd.
Small cap oil and gas sector investor Solo Oil (LON:SOLO) was among the top small caps in terms of investor interest today after relaying a statement from its Canadian partner Reef Resources (CVE:REE).
Reef has successfully completed the Ausable No.5 well onshore Ontario, Canada, which has exceeded its expectations.
Reef now plans to tie-in the well to the central Ausable process facility within the next week or so to conduct an online test to better determine oil, gas and gas liquids production rates.
Solo annouunced only yesterday it has now finished the first part of its purchase of a 38.1 percent direct working interest in the Ausable oil and gas field and surrounding properties from Reef.
Finally, part-nationalised bank Lloyds (LON:LLOY) was the most actively traded stock on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) this morning.
Yellow pages publisher Yell Group (LON:YELL) also made it to the list of the most searched for UK stocks after unveiling a strategic alliance with US computer software giant Microsoft (NYSE:MSFT). The two companies have teamed up to jointly supply small and medium-sized firms in Europe and America with online marketing services.
Yell currently provides print and digital marketing services to over 1.3 million in the US, UK, Spain and Latin America.
Shares in Yell surged 1.25 pence (13 percent) to 10.75 pence in early deals on London on the back of the update.
Sector peers Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS), Barclays (LON:BARC) and HSBC (LON:HSBA) weren’t far behind in terms of volume of traded shares.
Traders dumped banking stocks amid concerns over the exposure of the banking sector to Europe’s fiscal issues. The outlook for the debt crisis has worsened after top euro zone officials admitted that Greece was likely to default on its debt following an emergency meeting in Brussels yesterday.