Tosca happy to sing AAM's praises, but City still marks stock down

Published on Friday 6 June 2008 20:42

Scots stocks

TOSCAFUND, the London hedge fund manager just can't seem to get enough of Aberdeen Asset Management. The fund bought around 39 million shares in AAM on Thursday and now holds more than a quarter of the company.

While there appears to be nothing preventing a takeover attempt, it all seems very friendly. Tosca reiterated its comments that AAM was an "excellent global fund manager" yesterday. The market appeared unmoved, with AAM closing down 2.5p at 134p.

Oil producers surged in line with crude prices. Dana Petroleum rose 44p to 1,829p, while Venture Production climbed 15p to 895p. Edinburgh-based Melrose Resources bucked the trend, dropping 12p to 383p.

Shares in telecommunications group Thus rose marginally after Cable & Wireless threatened to walk away if the company did not engage in talks. Thus shares added 1p to 158p, though remain below the 165p at which C&W pitched its approach.

Contractor J Smart rose 50p to 675p after Thursday's trading statement that underlying profits would be at least 8 million.

Optos, the retinal scanning company, continued its recent rise, adding 6.5p to 180p, while pharmaceutical firm Pro-Strakan rose 2.25p to 74.25p.