Market Report: Maersk Oil buys half of Africa Oil's stakes in five licenses

A Tullow Oil company offshore oil platform off the coasts of the French overseas department of Guiana (Getty)

Tullow Oil proved a slick investment on a day of uninspired trading when stocks fell to a three-week low. Denmark’s Maersk Oil bought half of Africa Oil’s stakes in three Kenyan licences and another two Ethiopian licences, paying up to $845m (£559m) for the privilege despite slashing costs in keeping with the industry trend.

Weary investors in Tullow, a partner of Africa Oil which operates four of the licences, cheered the news and sent the FTSE 250 oil firm up 9.9p to 228.1p.

“This is a big vote of confidence on the quality and materiality of these assets,” analysts at oil broker FirstEnergy said.

Fellow mid-cap oil driller Premier Oil, which has a sizeable stake in a Kenyan block, joined Tullow 2.8p higher at 77.65p.

Initial optimism about the resumption of IPOs in China and more stimulus measures to bolster its flagging economy was quickly usurped by concerns over global trade growth, which hauled the FTSE 100 58.67 points down to 6,295.16.

Miners were again the nuisance, with Glencore the biggest casualty, down 6.15p at 109.7p as the commodities giant edges back towards the £1-a-share level.

Investors checked out of InterContinental Hotels, which fell 134p to 2,640p after the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza owner rejected rumours about a potential sale or merger.

Utilities stocks were also among the losers, with British Gas parent Centrica down 8.2p to 216.5p after a downgrade to hold from HSBC, and United Utilities 21.5p lower at 936p after Société Générale swapped its buy rating for a hold.

A downgrade to hold from HSBC hurt TalkTalk, down 11.9p at 214.2p, ahead of tomorrow’s half-year results from the phone and broadband provider, which are likely to touch on the impact of the cyber attack.

On AIM, Fastjet trundled up 1p to 65.5p after EasyJet’s founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, took his stake in the struggling African airline from 9.9 per cent to 10.8 per cent. Meanwhile, software minnow Imaginatik jumped 1.13p to 6.38p after former Quindell boss Rob Terry raised his stake to 15.7 per cent through his investment vehicle Quob Park Estate.