Tullow Oil rose 38½p to 910p, driven by talk of an imminent bid for its partner on its largest oil discovery off Ghana and hope of a new discovery elsewhere on the West African coast.

The deadline for bids for Kosmos’s stake in the Jubilee field off Ghana, in which Tullow also has a share, is said to be this week. Interest is thought to have come from Western oil majors, such as Shell, and ONGC, of India, and CNOOC, of China The winner may be inclined to buy out Tullow’s share as well. Meanwhile, Anadarko, the other partner in the field, said yesterday that it was about to drill offshore blocks further west, off Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, where it believes there is potential for a discovery similar to Jubilee. Tullow also shares ownership of some of Anadarko’s fields there. Royal Bank of Canada raised its Tullow target price from 860p to £10.60.

The oil exploration sector was buoyed by Addax Petroleum, the Canadian and London-listed explorer, agreeing a £4.4 billion bid from Sinopec, of China. Heritage Oil, whose main discovery is in Kurdish Iraq, rose 33½p to 518½p.

The FTSE 100 ended 49.96 points up at 4,279.98, helped by rising commodity stocks and American figures for durable goods orders that were stronger than expected.

Anglo American rose 168p to £18.20 as Xstrata, its rebuffed suitor, appealed to Anglo’s shareholders. However, traders noted that Xstrata needed the merger more than Anglo and speculated that Mick Davies, the Xstrata chief, had a “Plan B” up his sleeve, which may include teaming up with a player with more muscle, such as Chinalco or Vale, of Brazil. Xstrata rose 34.9p at 674.8p.

Lonmin rose 80p to £12.14 after it said that the costs of a shutdown of its main furnace should not exceed $4 million. All the miners were aided by rising metals prices as the dollar retreated. Kazakhmys was up 40½p at 630p.

Man Group, the hedge fund manager, was the worst performer, falling 11¾p to 272¼p as Morgan Stanley placed 12 million shares — less than 1 per cent — for an unknown investor at a discount. Friends Provident fell 2.1p to 66.9p and Experian 13¾p to 445p, both hit by going ex-dividend.

TUI Travel fell 3¾p to 229¾p as Evolution issued a “sell” note on both it and Thomas Cook, saying that, by cutting flights and hotel capacity, the tour operators were simply encouraging tourists to book directly with hotels and airlines. Thomas Cook rose 6¼p to 206¼p amid talk that the German Government had approved a rescue loan for part of Arcandor, its stricken parent.

British Land rose 5p to 385¼p as Credit Suisse upgraded UK property developers, saying that they would recover more quickly than their continental rivals.

Land Securities rose 4½p to 470½p despite Cazenove downgrading it from “buy” to “hold”. Credit Suisse raised it from “sell” to “hold”.

Marks & Spencer rose 4¼p to 296½p as JPMorgan said that its first- quarter trading update next week should be solid.

New York: Stocks fell, erasing early gains, after the Fed said that it expected inflation to remain subdued for some time. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 23.05 points at 8,299.86 at the close.

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