CAIRN Energy surged in early trading before closing down slightly last night as oil prices dropped in late trade.
Analysts at Evolution, which have for some time taken an unusually bearish view of the Edinburgh-based company, yesterday upgraded th
e group to "buy", arguing that progress on its Indian development was good, and that, even assuming crude stays at $80 a barrel, oil shares were undervalued.
Cairn closed down 2p at 1,734p.
Elsewhere in the sector, Faroe Petroleum, the Aim-listed North Sea oil company, slipped 6 per cent after it announced that testing on one of the wells in which it has an interest had been deemed "sub-commercial". Shares in Aberdeen-based Faroe closed down 5p at 79.25p.
Terrace Hill, the Glasgow-based commercial and residential property business, was unchanged at 29.5p, a third of the level the shares were trading at a year ago, and directors have begun taking advantage. Executive chairman Robert Adair increased his stake in the company to almost 61 per cent yesterday, buying 40,000 shares. Finance director Jon Austen bought 85,000 shares last week.
Weir was up 4 per cent to 542.5p and Forth Ports gained 65p to 1,220p.
