Aviva (AV.L) moved into the top ten sell list this morning after the share price climbed amid speculation that Prudential and/or Resolution were gearing up for takeover of the UK insurer.

While some were keen to dismiss the rumours, it sparked a surge in Aviva’s share price, which opened at 235.9p and peaked at 369p (1102 hrs), before falling back to 363.4p (1200hrs), prompting some investors to cash in their gains.

Investors continued their love affair with banking and mining, with stocks from both sectors continuing to take up the majority of both the top buys and sells tables this morning.

Banks account 60 per cent of overall top ten trading activity, with Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and Barclays (BARC.L) taking up their usual positions in the top three spots of both tables.

Lloyds, in particular, remained the most popular stock bought for the fourth day in a row. However, in reality more customers sold the stock than they bought, with Lloyds accounting for 29.75 per cent of the top ten sells compared to 25.25 per cent of the top ten buys of the morning.

Investors trading through TD Waterhouse seemed keen to take advantage of a rise in Lloyds’ share price, after it closed yesterday at 48.15p. The stock opened this morning at 49.5p and has climbed steadily, peaking at 50.8p before reaching 50.5p

This morning’s buy to sell ratio was 1: 1.5. 

TD Waterhouse
Top ten trades
Wednesday 10 February 2010 (morning session)

Buy
1. Lloyds Banking Group, 25.25 per cent
2. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group, 14 per cent
3. Barclays, 11 per cent
4. Desire Petroleum, 10.5 per cent
5. Gulf Keystone, 8.25 per cent
6. Rockhopper Explora, 6.75 per cent
7. GlaxoSmithKline, 6.75 per cent
8. Xstrata, 6.75 per cent
9. Vodafone Group, 6 per cent
10. Aviva, 4.75 per cent

Sell
1. Lloyds Banking Group, 29.75 per cent
2. Barclays, 27.25 per cent
3. RBS Group, 12.25 per cent
4. Xstrata, 9 per cent
5. Gulf Keystone, 6.75 per cent
6. Aviva, 3.75 per cent
7. Afren 3.25 per cent
8. Kazakhmys, 2.75 per cent
9. Rio Tinto, 2.75 per cent
10. Legal & General, 2.5 per cent

Click here to read yesterday's top ten trades