LONDON -- Hot news and a nose for a bargain drove the retail clients of stockbroker TD Direct Investing to hit the "buy" button this morning, with three shares in particular benefiting from positive news flow.

First up: Tesco (LSE: TSCO.L), the fourth-most popular pick by the broker's private clients between the market's opening and noon. Heavily bought in the past few weeks following lackluster results that saw 30 pence lopped off the share price, Tesco is still clearly benefiting from last week's upgrade: UBS waved the "buy" flag and put a price of 370 pence on the share.

Next up is BP (LSE: BP.L), which has finally signed a deal with Russia's Rosneft to sell its 50% share in TNK-BP, propelling the shares to be the fifth-most popular purchase among the broker's private clients between the market's opening and noon.

While TNK-BP has delivered dividends and a sizable chunk of Russia's oil reserves to BP, the stake has also delivered ample headaches, and the hope now will be that Rosneft will be a more cordial bedfellow.

According to the RNS released today, the basic plan goes something like this. First, Rosneft buys the stake for $17.1 billion in cash and shares representing 12.84% of Rosneft. BP then uses $4.8 billion of the cash to purchase a further 5.66% of Rosneft from the Russian government, which -- added to BP's existing holding -- gives it 19.75% of Rosneft's shares.

It has taken some time to negotiate, but the outcome should be that BP winds up Rosneft's biggest shareholder and maintains a big stake in Russia but gets some cash and dispenses of a fractious relationship that had clearly run its course.

Lastly, 1 billion pound AIM-listed gold miner Centamin (LSE: CEY.L) was the ninth-most popular purchase by TD Direct Investing's retail clients this morning. Principally centered on extracting gold from Egypt's Eastern Desert, the company's shares are up 60% since the summer, as Egypt's political turmoil has eased. The company rose 3% today after a broker upgrade. The miner is on course to hit its full-year target of 250,000 ounces of gold, it seems, and has recently begun work in Ethiopia.

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