Egg is reportedly being eyed up by two US suitors

Enthusiastic buying by speculators added more than £57m to the market value of Egg, which is majority-owned by insurer Prudential.

Prudential's appointment of a new chief executive in May fuelled speculation that it would revive plans to sell Egg.

The firm failed to find a buyer for Egg in 2004 when its price tag was £1.5bn.

Since then Prudential has replaced former chief executive Jonathan Bloomer with Mark Tucker. Analysts believe that the new management team has made a sell-off of Egg more likely.

Popular move

A sale would come as a relief to Prudential shareholders angered by last year's controversial £1bn rights issue, as cash from any sell-off may be returned to investors.

A deal would also seal Mark Tucker's reputation, as Prudential 's failure to dispose of Egg was seen as a major embarrassment for Mr Bloomer.

Egg employs about 2,000 people in the UK and group profit totalled £5m in the first quarter.

Recent reports suggested that credit card giant MBNA was also lining up a bid for Egg, but a $35bn offer for MBNA from Bank of America - launched in June - may put any Egg bid on the backburner.

On the London Stock Exchange, shares in Egg closed 8.5 pence higher on Monday at 113.75p.