Investors moved to snap up mining stocks over the past 48 hours after Monday’s bullish US manufacturing data and having witnessed gains in gold.

News that Australia is keeping its rates on hold also served as a bit of a surprise, which facilitated increased stock buying across Europe.

BP’s fourth quarter earnings disappointed investors by missing its forecasts, albeit with a 33 per cent rise in earnings. The rise in earnings was not enough to stop investors reacting negatively to squeezing refining margins and a loss of momentum for the company’s operational turnaround.

Despite that, once the share price had fallen, investors rushed back in, with BP accounting for around 17 per cent of the day’s trades through Barclays Stockbrokers.

Elsewhere in the market, Utility companies fell victim to short term investors cashing in their profits.

Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index, explained, ‘Utility companies also fell in trading after investors decided to cash in their profits after Utilities led Monday’s gainers on mergers and acquisition speculation.

‘We have seen clients looking to take profits off the table on Northumbrian Water and Severn Trent, who were both standout gainers in yesterday's session.’

Barclays Stockbrokers
Top ten trades
Tuesday 2 February 2010

Buy
1. BP, 17 per cent
2. Barclays, 3.9 per cent
3. Lloyds Banking Group, 3.4 per cent
4. RBS, 2.5 per cent
5. Xstrata, 2.4 per cent
6. Vodafone, 1.3 per cent
7. MAN Group, 1.2 per cent
8. Rio Tinto, 1.1 per cent
9. Desire Petroleum, 1 per cent
10. GlaxoSmithKline, 1 per cent

Sell
1. Barclays, 7.6 per cent
2. RBS, 7.1 per cent
3. Lloyds Banking Group, 7.1 per cent
4. Xstrata, 3.0 per cent
5. BP, 2.2 per cent
6. Rio Tinto, 1.6 per cent
7. Taylor Wimpey, 1.3 per cent
8. Cadbury, 1.3 per cent
9. Centamin Egypt, 1.3 per cent
10. Petrofac, 1.1 per cent