LONDON (ShareCast) - - Bankia and Spain continue to weigh on sentiment
- ECB denies interference
- Chinese stimulus hopes fade

Rising bond yields in the Eurozone periphery and fading hopes of further Chinese stimulus were weighing heavily on European stock markets on Wednesday; resources stocks and banks were heavy fallers on London's FTSE 100.

The European Central Bank has today denied press claims that it has been sticking its nose into Spain's affairs and advising on the southern European country's plans to recapitalise stricken lender Bankia. After the Financial Times front page piece on Wednesday which said that the European Central Bank (ECB) had rejected Spain’s funding plan for the €19bn bailout of its fourth largest lender, Bankia, the monetary authority has come out and officially denied the report.

By midday, Spain's 10-year bond yield was 24.4 basis points (bp) higher at 6.690%, while Italy's was up 21.7bp at 5.983%. Italy sold €5.73bn in five- and 10-year debt this morning, short of its maximum €6.25bn target and at higher borrowing costs than the last auction.

The European Commission's economic sentiment index fell from 92.9 to 90.6 in May, well below the 92.0 figure expected by analysts. Sentiment now stands at its lowest level since October 2009.

China does not intend to introduce economic stimulus measures like it did when the financial crisis started, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua. Speculation of a massive stimulus plan had surfaced last week after Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said that his country would take the necessary steps towards policies that will support the economy.

In other news, oil prices were lower today ahead of an Energy Department report on Thursday which is expected to show that US stockpiles rose to their highest level since 1990 last week. According to a Bloomberg survey of economist, US inventories are predicted to have risen by 800,000 barrels to 383.3m last week.

FTSE 100: Ex-divs, miners, banks take a hit

Several stocks on the Footsie were falling after going ex-dividend - trading without the right for their latest dividend payouts - including National Grid, Capital Shopping Centres Group, Marks & Spencer and AMEC.



AMEC, the engineering and project management group, announced this morning that it has acquired a Brisbane-based consulting, engineering and technical services business to expand its Environment and Infrastructure service offering in Australia. 



Mining groups ENRC, Vedanta and Rio Tinto were firmly out of favour as hopes of a stronger Chinese economy fade. Even Glencore was lower after revealing that its takeover of agricultural business Viterra has moved a step closer after Viterra passed a special resolution.

Global economic concerns were also pressuring the share price of the banks, with Lloyds, RBS and Barclays firmly in the red by lunchtime.



Natural gas giant BG Group fell after saying that it is to sell its stake in to gas-fired power generation plants in the Philippines as part of its planned release of $5bn of capital over the next two years. 



Utility provider Severn Trent edged higher despite pre-tax profits falling 38% in the year to the end of March. The group announced a special dividend and said it forecast no water restrictions for customers this year.

FTSE 250: Cape, Booker lead the risers

Energy support services firm Cape jumped after announcing that a new Chief Executive will join the firm at the end of June. Joe Oatley will become Group Chief Executive and comes from Hamworthy, a global engineering business serving the oil and gas industry. 



Food wholesaler Booker Group rose after saying it is to buy Makro UK, a subsidiary of the huge German retailer Metro, in a combined share and cash deal. Booker says the transaction will enable it to become the “UK's leading wholesaler to caterers, retailers and small and medium sized enterprises.” 



Ex-dividend stocks on the second-tier were trading lower; these included Britvic, Daily Mail & General Trust, Marston's, Cable & Wireless Communications and Intermediate Capital.


FTSE 100 - Risers
United Utilities Group (UU.) 648.50p +1.01%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 274.20p +0.33%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,665.00p +0.06%
International Power (IPR) 414.00p 0.00%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 696.00p -0.07%
Diageo (DGE) 1,534.00p -0.16%
Next (NXT) 2,997.00p -0.17%
Kingfisher (KGF) 276.10p -0.18%
Serco Group (SRP) 537.00p -0.19%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,188.00p -0.34%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 306.10p -5.44%
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 440.90p -5.22%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 945.00p -4.93%
National Grid (NG.) 650.50p -4.41%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 24.79p -4.31%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,809.50p -3.85%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 19.83p -3.83%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 683.50p -3.80%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 332.90p -3.51%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 238.10p -3.37%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Cape (CIU) 249.60p +8.29%
Booker Group (BOK) 85.60p +8.22%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 64.25p +4.05%
Synergy Health (SYR) 824.00p +3.19%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 723.50p +1.97%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 131.70p +1.31%
COLT Group SA (COLT) 119.00p +1.19%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 724.00p +1.12%
Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 76.85p +1.05%
Kenmare Resources (KMR) 44.36p +0.82%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 28.45p -11.65%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 246.40p -6.77%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 207.00p -5.26%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 367.40p -4.99%
Ruspetro (RPO) 152.40p -4.69%
Heritage Oil (HOIL) 122.20p -4.68%
Spectris (SXS) 1,630.00p -4.40%
Logica (LOG) 65.40p -4.39%
CSR (CSR) 206.60p -4.13%
Lamprell (LAM) 104.00p -4.06%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers
Torotrak (TRK) 36.00p +4.35%
Ricardo (RCDO) 326.75p +4.06%
Promethean World (PRW) 47.00p +3.30%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 2.89p +1.76%
Innovation Group (TIG) 20.50p +1.23%
Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 184.50p +1.10%
Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 184.75p +0.96%
Asterand (ATD) 1.88p 0.00%
Kofax (KFX) 250.00p 0.00%
Triad Group (TRD) 5.75p 0.00%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
Hiwave Technologies (HIW) 1.88p -34.21%
Xaar (XAR) 211.00p -4.09%
Timeweave (TMW) 19.25p -3.14%
RM (RM.) 73.25p -3.14%
Ark Therapeutics Group (AKT) 2.70p -2.70%
Vislink (VLK) 31.88p -2.67%
Consort Medical (CSRT) 583.00p -2.02%
CML Microsystems (CML) 266.00p -1.85%
Vectura Group (VEC) 66.00p -1.49%
E2V Technologies (E2V) 137.00p -1.44%

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:

• DIGG
• FACEBOOK
• STUMBLEUPON
• MIXX
• YAHOO BUZZ
• DELICIOUS
• REDDIT
• NEWSVINE