Game Group hit its best level in nearly five years after Goldman Sachs added the stock to its “conviction buy” list on hopes that the computer games retailer’s annual results due this month will impress.

A bullish statement from GameStop, an American peer, and Sony’s successful European launch of its PlayStation3 console could put Game’s current trading well ahead of market forecasts, Goldman said. The shares, which closed up 10p at 150½p yesterday, have surged 70 per cent since December.

Billing Service Group added 1p to 31¾p after it agreed to sell its Wireless Business to Syniverse Technologies, its American peer. The telecoms payment clearing house — which had been rumoured to be looking at an outright sale — said that it would use the $290 million (£145 million) proceeds to pay down debt and make a one-off payment to shareholders of between 20p and 22p per share. Separately, Jim Mellon, the financier, was understood to have been adding to his 10.9 per cent holding.

Jessops rallied 1p to 16p, recovering from a record low as Cazenove said that the stock may appeal to activist investors looking to benefit from a likely capital restructuring. “The Jessops brand does, in our opinion, have some value and, while the immediate actions open to management are not obvious, if the business can survive this difficult period, there could be significant upside in the longer term,” Cazenove said.

African Copper moved up 5p to 74½p as the miner toured City institutions.

Antrim Energy rose 20½p to 224p after saying that its estimated reserves rose more than fourfold last year. Coastal Energy surged 9p to 34½p on hopes that it will give a reserves update within the next few weeks. The group is believed to be evaluating a number of AIM-listed peers as potential takeover candidates.

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