Delta Petroleum, China Direct: Monday's Volume Plays

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Several stocks trading near $5 were moving on above-average volume during Monday's session.

China Direct Industries (CDII) rallied by 37 cents, or 31.4%, to $1.55 after the U.S.-owned holding company said it would begin offering an annual financial outlook due to improved visibility. China Direct said it now expects full-year 2010 revenue of $130 million to $150 million, inline with the consensus target of $145.3 million. Volume topped 1.78 million shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 157,000, according to the Nasdaq.

Delta Petroleum (DPTR) jumped by 23 cents, or 22.1%, to $1.27 after Total's (TOT) acquisition of a 25% interest in Chesapeake Energy's (CHK) upstream Barnett Shale assets in a $2.25 billion joint venture sparked speculation of more consolidation in the industry. The deal comes just weeks after Exxon Mobil (XOM) acquired XTO Energy (XTO) for $31 billion. Delta's share volume topped 10 million, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 9.49 million.

ICx Technologies (ICXT) and Intellicheck Mobilisa (IDN) slumped by 8.6% and 4.8% to $8.70 and $3.57, respectively, giving back some the previous week's gains sparked by a terrorist's attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound plane on Dec. 25. Since the incident, ICx has rallied 75% and Intellicheck shares have jumped 169%. ICx's share volume totaled 1.72 million, more than four times the 50-day average daily volume. Intellicheck Mobilisa saw nearly 1.7 million shares change hands before 11 a.m. EST Monday, compared with the three-month average daily volume of 192,000.

GenVec (GNVC) jumped by 37 cents, or 16.2%, to $2.65 in the absence of any company-specific news. Traders posting on Internet message boards speculated that due to increased volume, Monday's climb was a result of a short squeeze. GenVec had a short interest float of 11.3% as of Dec. 15, according to Yahoo! Finance. Volume topped 2 million shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 1.46 million.

-- Written by Robert Holmes in Boston.

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