Date: Thursday 18 Jun 2015
LONDON (ShareCast) - Decent gains in the mining sector weren't enough to lift UK stocks on Thursday morning, with markets extending a five-month low on concerns over Greece.
The FTSE 100, which fell to its lowest since January on Wednesday, was down a further 0.11% at 6,672.96 early on, marking the fifth consecutive session in the red.
A Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday has been touted as the "last chance saloon" for Greece to agree a deal in time of the end of June, according to CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.
Athens must repay €1.6bn due to the IMF by 30 June but has admitted that it has insufficient funds to do and that compromising to unlock frozen aid would be a necessity.
"With relations now so bad, a deal today at the Eurogroup meeting seems implausible. Serious consideration from markets is being giving to Alex Tsipiras when he says that he'd rather Greece default than endure more austerity, he may actually get what he wants," London Capital Group's Jonathan Sudaria said.
A barrage of US economic data is likely to also garner some attention following a policy decision by the Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday evening.
Policymakers struck a relatively dovish tone as they downgraded their growth forecasts for the US this year and warned that factors such as Greece and the strength of the US dollar could continue to weigh on the economy.
At the same time, however, the so-called 'dot plot' chart for projections of the Fed funds rate pointed to at least one, or possibly two, rate rises before the end of the year.
On the agenda for Thursday's session will be US data on the balance of payments, the consumer price index, jobless claims, the current account balance, the leading indicators index and the Philly Fed index.
Closer to home, UK retail data is expected to show that national sales declined 0.2% in May after a 1.2% jump in April which was the strongest increase since November. Compared with May 2014, sales growth is expected to have eased to 4.3% from 4.7%.
Miners rise, ex-div stocks drag
A weaker dollar on dovish Fed comments gave metal prices a boost, lifting stocks across the mining sector including Randgold, Fresnillo, Anglo American and BHP Billiton.
However, a number of blue chips were trading in the red after going ex-dividend, such as Land Securities, 3i Group and Severn Trent.
Shares in Poundland dropped after the discount retailer warned that it faced a number of headwinds in the current financial year, as it posted an 18.6% rise in full-year underlying pre-tax profit.
Playtech, the gambling software company, also tumbled after saying it is placing up to 29.1m ordinary shares at a price yet to be determined through an accelerated bookbuilding to fund future acquisitions. The proceeds will be used to fund future acquisitions, including the one of troubled contract for difference company Plus500.
Technology products and solutions firm Premier Farnell disappointed with a 2% drop in first-quarter gross profits and guidance for a first-half bottom line "marginally below the prior year".
High street bookie William Hill was lower after saying its finance director, Neil Cooper, will step down from his role to become chief financial officer at Barratt Developments. The company assured that "[Cooper] leaves us in excellent financial health".
Market Movers
techMARK 3,135.81 -0.25%
FTSE 100 6,672.96 -0.11%
FTSE 250 17,632.07 -0.42%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,531.00p +2.35%
Fresnillo (FRES) 726.50p +2.04%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,315.00p +1.00%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,352.50p +0.99%
Anglo American (AAL) 975.00p +0.97%
Centrica (CNA) 272.50p +0.74%
Diageo (DGE) 1,894.50p +0.72%
Glencore (GLEN) 273.80p +0.72%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 545.00p +0.55%
Meggitt (MGGT) 473.70p +0.49%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
3i Group (III) 518.00p -2.91%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,058.00p -2.88%
GKN (GKN) 345.40p -1.31%
Shire Plc (SHP) 5,150.00p -1.25%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,222.00p -1.13%
G4S (GFS) 276.80p -1.04%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,126.00p -0.97%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 613.00p -0.89%
Pearson (PSON) 1,256.00p -0.87%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,618.00p -0.86%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,919.00p +2.90%
COLT Group SA (COLT) 158.50p +2.19%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 1,050.00p +1.94%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,174.40p +1.77%
Hellermanntyton Group (HTY) 359.60p +1.58%
Polymetal International (POLY) 553.00p +1.47%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 226.70p +1.30%
Foxtons Group (FOXT) 256.50p +1.14%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 293.70p +1.14%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 62.00p +1.14%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Poundland Group (PLND) 291.50p -6.30%
Premier Farnell (PFL) 180.60p -4.80%
Playtech (PTEC) 773.50p -4.27%
Rotork (ROR) 233.50p -3.63%
Drax Group (DRX) 357.60p -3.35%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 162.50p -2.11%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 225.70p -2.08%
Workspace Group (WKP) 888.00p -1.93%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 680.50p -1.87%
3i Infrastructure (3IN) 165.50p -1.84%
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