LONDON (ShareCast) - - Cautious mood ahead of EU summit
- Cyprus, Spain and Italy dampen sentiment
- US data mixed

The FTSE 100 struggled to find direction on Tuesday, swinging between gains and losses throughout the day on the back of development in the Eurozone and mixed economic data from the US.

Traders were showing caution as the EU summit on June 28-29th edges closer. European leaders are to discuss specific steps towards a cross-border banking union, closer fiscal integration and the possibility of a debt redemption fund, according to reports. "In the past, these summits have been met with a lot of optimism. However given their history of achieving nothing, we’re now seeing low volatility as we wait for the announcement of productive talks but no solutions," said analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.

Cyprus officially became the fifth Eurozone country to request a bailout yesterday, announcing last night that it would be applying for EU rescue funds for its banking sector and blaming the move on their exposure to Greece. According to a European official cited by Reuters, Cyprus could need up to €10bn, more than half the size of its economy.

In other news, Moody’s downgraded no less than 28 Spanish banks by one to four notches due to the weakening of the Spanish government’s creditworthiness. According to Bloomberg this afternoon, Moody's is ready to downgrade Spain's sovereign debt rating to junk status.

Spain tapped the sovereign debt market this morning for a total of €3.077bn in three- and six-month bills; however, yields advanced while demand for debt was weak compared with the previous auction. Italy also sold €3.9bn in two-year bonds today and saw yields hit a new high since December.

In the US, the S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices fell at its slowest pace in over a year in April, while consumer confidence dropped to a five-month low.

Here in the UK, analysts said they were confident that more quantitative easing (QE) was on the way in July after Bank of England policy makers gave downbeat evidence to MPs this morning. Governor Mervyn King told the Treasury Select Committee that the outlook for the UK economy had worsened recently, driven by the crisis gripping the eurozone.

FTSE 100: Shire and Croda rise after broker upgrades

Shire leapt into the top spot, rebounding after a heavy sell-off the day before on the back of generic competition issues surrounding its ADHD drug, Adderall XR. The pharma giant was given a lift by Panmure Gordon, Berenberg and Societe Generale, who all upgraded their ratings on the stock.

Croda, the manufacturer of speciality and oleochemical products, was trading higher after JP Morgan Cazenove upgraded the stock from 'neutral' to 'overweight' this morning. “Croda’s notable characteristic through the last downturn was one of resilience, and we see no evidence to suggest that this attraction is likely to wane," said JPMorgan analyst Martin Evans.

Oil and gas services provider Petrofac underwhelmed after reiterating its full-year net profit growth guidance of 15%. After an initial rise, gains were erased after Investec downgraded its rating on the stock from 'buy' to 'hold', highlighting the decline in the group's backlog.

Insurance group Resolution was also lower after Investec downgraded the stock by two notches from 'buy' to 'sell' and more than halved its target price. "We have significantly reduced our embedded value estimates and this highlights that there is likely to be less cash generation in the future," the broker said.

Royal Bank of Scotland was a heavy faller after technical issues at Natwest left customers without the access to their cash over the last few days. Sector peers Barclays and Lloyds were also in the red.

FTSE 250: Ocado drops 20% on third-quarter uncertainty

Online grocer Ocado plummeted despite some seemingly 'in-line' first-half results. However the group said that third-quarter trading was hard to forecast; it has already seen some disruption from the Jubilee events and there is "uncertainty as to the effect of the forthcoming Olympic Games". 



Transport group Stagecoach jumped after revenues rose 8.4% in the year to the end of April and the total dividend was raised by 10%. Pre-tax profit however dipped slightly.



FTSE 100 - Risers
Shire Plc (SHP) 1,798.00p +3.16%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 674.00p +2.74%
Croda International (CRDA) 2,183.00p +2.73%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 645.50p +1.65%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,034.50p +1.24%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 249.90p +1.22%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 682.00p +1.19%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,725.00p +0.79%
British Land Co (BLND) 501.00p +0.78%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 652.00p +0.77%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 227.70p -3.84%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 483.60p -3.22%
IMI (IMI) 800.00p -2.56%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 979.50p -2.25%
Serco Group (SRP) 529.50p -1.94%
Glencore International (GLEN) 302.70p -1.77%
Old Mutual (OML) 151.30p -1.56%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,334.00p -1.51%
Amec (AMEC) 933.00p -1.43%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 506.00p -1.36%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 263.50p +5.48%
Carpetright (CPR) 686.00p +4.97%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 185.00p +4.58%
Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 370.00p +4.23%
Elementis (ELM) 194.30p +3.41%
Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) 50.00p +3.09%
Perform Group (PER) 392.70p +3.07%
Premier Farnell (PFL) 177.00p +2.55%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 136.60p +2.55%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,560.00p +2.40%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 86.00p -20.44%
Afren (AFR) 93.95p -3.84%
Halfords Group (HFD) 225.30p -3.84%
Salamander Energy (SMDR) 163.50p -3.82%
Man Group (EMG) 72.00p -3.81%
Cookson Group (CKSN) 581.50p -3.08%
Senior (SNR) 184.90p -2.68%
Morgan Crucible Co (MGCR) 264.50p -2.58%
Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 176.90p -2.53%
Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 1,545.00p -2.28%

BC

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