BG Group shares climb on bid talk: traders

LONDON Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:01am EDT Stocks & &

LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in British gas producer BG Group (BG.L) rose 1.8 percent in morning trade on Thursday on market talk of Exxon Mobil"s (XOM.N) interest in the company, traders said.

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BG Group declined to comment on the talk. Exxon was not immediately available for comments.

Rumors of an Exxon bid for BG frequently circulate in the market, but analysts are skeptical on such talk.

Traders also cited talk that Indian explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.BO) was also interested in making a bid for BG Group.

About 4 million BG shares changed hands by 1057 GMT, against a 90-day daily average of 7.2 million shares.

(Reporting by Atul Prakash, Simon Falush and Tom Bergin in London, Blaise Robinson in Paris and Cristoph Steitz in Frankfurt)

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