The most followed stock today seems to be one that is not even trading yet, namely Royal Mail.
Insiders are falling over themselves to reveal to news agencies that the government has apparently narrowed the indicative pricing range for the privatisation to 300p to 330p. This came after the grey markets saw shares virtually changing hands for 340p.
Barclays (LON:BARC) is a stock that is very definitely trading, and now there are a lot more of the shares in issue following the recent £5.8bn rights issue.
Response to the issue was enthusiastic, as well it might be at a near 90p discount to the current share price. Barclays said the take-up was 94.63%. The rump of the rights issue was placed by the underwriters at 268p a share before they went off to see if they could get any money for some old rope they had lying about.
The stock was around the eighth most actively traded stock in the morning session, a couple of places below fellow lender Lloyds (LON:LLOY) and one slot above oil & gas investment company TXO (LON:TXO).
Investors are rushing to buy TXO's shares on news that it expects a favourable outcome in a court case that is drawing to a close.
The case is Empire vs Smartwin and Empire is the party to root for if you are a TXO shareholder.
Tim Baldwin, chief executive of TXO, said the company's legal eagles have opined that the judge's latest actions have been favourable to the Empire case, and they feel that the case is drawing to a conclusion.
A favourable outcome could bring significant benefits to TXO. Tasmanian Oil & Gas (TOG), in which TXO currently has a 25% equity interest, is beneficially entitled to 50% of any successful claim on this case.
Another tiddler seeing lots of trading volume is Solo Oil, which is set to sell its 28.56% stake in Ontario focussed Reef Resources.
"As we have previously indicated, we have been disappointed by the performance of the SW Ontario properties and the limited progress made with the field development this year,” said executive director Neil Ritson.
“We feel that our shareholders will be better served by Solo reinvesting the proceeds of an eventual sale elsewhere."
In the gold mining sector Orogen and Premier Gold are hogging the limelight.
Orogen (LON:ORE) is set to accelerate its exploration programmes in Armenia after raising cash through a share placing.
The gold explorer has raised £650,000 from both new and existing shareholders – including the company's directors - after placing shares at 0.3p each. That's a small discount to the closing price of 0.33p on the day before the placing was announced.
Circumstances beyond Premier Gold's (LON:PGR) control have put a dent in the share price, as the miner has been forced to push back the start of fieldwork operations at the Cholokkaindy gold licence.
Gangs of thugs are threatening their employees in Kyrgyzstan, prompting no less an authority than the country's deputy prime minister to deal with the situation.
The company said it now cannot be certain of reaching operational objectives outlined for the 2013 field season, with the harsh winter just around the corner.
Over on the message boards the mouse-clicking stock-picking small cap fans are getting excited about the Falklands again, following this week's takeover of Desire Petroleum (LON:DES) by Falkland Oil & Gas (LON:FOGL).