oxiana shares surge on takeover talk

Zinc producer Oxiana’s shares have surged amid talks of a possible takeover offer from Xstrata Plc, reports Bloomberg.

At 1500 AEST, Oxiana shares were up 6.28 per cent to $3.55.

More than 40 million shares have been traded so far on Wednesday, more than double the stock's daily average in the past six months.

``There is speculation of some global mining houses looking at the stock and Xstrata seems to be the speculative party that has been mentioned,'' said Leigh Gardner, head of sales trading at ABN Amro Holding.

``There is no doubt that Xstrata as a group is trawling the globe for assets that they think have got long-term viability,'' he said.

Xstrata, the fifth largest mining company by market value, posted mixed first quarter output results for its two most important metals on Tuesday as copper output gained 2 per cent and nickel production fell by 15 per cent.

Xstrata has not commented on the speculation