Market overview: Asset managers lead gains
1630: Close Stocks bounced back for a second day as optimism grew that Greece might yet be able to clinch a deal with its international creditors. Leading the charge was Standard Life following an upbeat note out of Barclays. Asset managers such as St.James’s Place, Schroders and Aberdeen Asset Management were also wanted. All eyes thus turned to Saturday’s Eurogroup meeting of finance ministers. Investors in Fidelity China Special Situations will also breathe a sigh of relief as the stock tracked an overnight bounce in China. Brewin Dolphin got a boost from an upgrade out of Panmure, while Lonmin got whacked after a downgrade from UBS. FTSE 100 up 91.75 points to 6,673.38.
Abrdn
146.05p
16:35 26/04/24
Admiral Group
2,699.00p
16:34 26/04/24
Aviva
463.80p
16:40 26/04/24
Boliden
kr0.00
16:46 26/04/24
FTSE 100
8,139.83
17:09 26/04/24
FTSE 350
4,470.09
16:59 26/04/24
FTSE All-Share
4,423.59
17:14 26/04/24
Glencore
469.50p
16:35 26/04/24
Insurance (non-life)
3,595.04
16:59 26/04/24
Life Insurance
5,699.63
16:59 26/04/24
Mining
10,486.86
16:59 26/04/24
Prudential
723.80p
16:40 26/04/24
Rio Tinto
5,453.00p
16:39 26/04/24
1251: FT's Peter Spiegel is reportedly saying people he talks to say a deal on Greece may not be reached this weekend. In parallel, Slovakia's finance minister has said that not enough progress has been made for a deal to be achieved.
1250: Barclays upped its target on Standard Life to 546p from 520p as well as on Admiral to 1572p from 1523p. The broker also nudged its targets for Aviva and Prudential higher.
1200: The only traded ETF for Greek stocks ended up 6.5% overnight in the US as ADRs for National Bank Greece closed higher by +23.3%.
1044: A report citing Reuters says the IMF's Lagarde, the EU's Juncker, the ECB's Draghi and Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem will hold a meeting at 12:00 BST. That follows earlier reported remarks from Dijsselbloem that a deal on Greece was possible today.
1043: The emergency summit of European Union heads of state scheduled for Sunday will be cancelled should Greece and its international creditors reach a deal tomorrow, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
0934: "European macro concerns and China stock market moves dominate headlines, with volatility firmly in the driving seat. We fully acknowledge the near-term risk-off sentiment as the market looks to avoid being caught the wrong side of big moves. Looking beyond, we believe that when the fog clears our favoured commodities of copper, zinc and nickel will outperform given their superior demand growth and specific supply-side issues," HSBC says. The broker has lowered its price target on Rio Tinto to 2800p from 3050p but stayed at hold. Glencore was kept at buy. Boliden was upgraded to buy from hold.
0911: German finance minister is said to have joked with US Secretary Jack Lew that if the US hands over Puerto Rico then they can have Greece.
0900: The UK's visible trade deficit shrank in May to -£8bn from -£9.4bn in the month before (consensus: -£9.7bn).
0833: Stocks are jumping early on after Greece submitted new reform proposals overnight. Critically, Germany’s finance minister reportedly said the IMF was right to point out that the country’s debt is not sustainable without debt relief. Chinese stocks rebounded further, for their biggest two-day jump since September 2008. Nevertheless, market chatter was pointing out today’s data showing the first drop in Chinese car sales in two years, as alluded to by Marc Faber on Thursday. As a group, miners are doing best early on. FTSE 100 up 69.74 to 6,651.07.