London midday: Greece's creditors agree on proposals for Athens
Stocks were holding slightly lower just after midday as investors anxiously awaited the details of the proposal which Greece’s creditors would put forward to Athens.
As of 12:09 the Footsie was lower by 39.95 basis points to 6,913.59 points.
According to The Wall Street Journal officials from the European institutions and the International Monetary Fund had agreed on the raft of the agreement for Greece to unlock further financial aid.
That followed secret negotiations overnight in Berlin.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Greek government bond was lower by 22 basis points to 11.40% and the country’s main equity benchmark, the ASE, by another 0.60% to 820.41.
Indeed, while until now the Greek government had been unwilling to accept labour market and pensions reforms being foisted on it the country’s creditors had also been at odds over how to proceed, making a deal highly highly improbable.
Acting as a backdrop, overnight the Reserve Bank of India cut its main policy rate for the third time this year, by 25 basis points to reach 7.25%, despite increased expectations for a Fed rate hike later in 2015.
As expected, the Reserve bank of Australia kept its cash rate unchanged at 2%. Data on US factory orders and new vehicle sales are due out later in the day.
The dollar/yen reached 125 last night, for the first time since 2002.
Tesco drags on Footsie
Tesco saw its share of the grocery market decline to 28.6% over the 12 weeks to 24 May, according to Kantar Worldpanel. In the reference period Sainsbury’s sales fell 0.3%while Morrison’s increased by 0.1%.
Wolseley registered a sharp rise in quarterly profits boosted by favourable tailwinds form the currency market, although management expects a slight slowdown in sales. The heating and plumbing products distributor, which has a large exposure to the US market, reported a 16.6% increase in revenues for the third quarter of its fiscal year to reach £3,301m.
HSBC is reportedly planning to cut thousands of jobs across its global workforce as it tries to reassure shareholders that its focus on costs remains undiminished after a series of reputational crises. According to Sky News, HSBC’s chief executive Stuart Gulliver will set out a revised target for headcount at the investor day next week that will be implemented by the end of 2017.
A class-action lawsuit in Canada found that British American Tobacco and two other cigarette makers should pay a combined C$15.6bn (£8.2bn) to smokers in "moral and punitive damages", the largest legal award in Canadian history.
Final results from online white good retailer AO World revealed a £2.9m loss before tax that was largely expected and said the although the UK market remained challenging it was taking market share. For the year to 31 March, the FTSE 250 company lifted revenues 24% to £476.7m, with website sales in the UK up 32.9% and total UK revenue up 22.3%.
British Land unveiled plans to launch a £350m senior, unsecured convertible bonds offering due 2020. The company plans to use the net proceeds to fund the £210m acquisition of One Sheldon Square, Paddington Central in April 2015, the £135m acquisition of Surrey Quays Leisure Park, Canada Water in March 2015 and to fund committed development spending.
London-listed asset manager Henderson Group said it has acquired Perennial Fixed Interest Partners Pty and Perennial Growth Management Pty from IOOF Holdings, which have combined assets under management of £5.5bn.
Market Movers
techMARK 3,302.47 -0.29%
FTSE 100 6,919.52 -0.49%
FTSE 250 18,218.03 -0.01%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Wolseley (WOS) 4,114.00p +2.36%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 171.10p +1.00%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,168.00p +0.95%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,546.00p +0.87%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,008.00p +0.50%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 563.00p +0.45%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,131.00p +0.44%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,194.00p +0.34%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,844.00p +0.34%
CRH (CRH) 1,809.00p +0.28%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,511.50p -2.25%
Tesco (TSCO) 205.90p -1.86%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,253.00p -1.60%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,799.00p -1.36%
Diageo (DGE) 1,793.50p -1.35%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,692.00p -1.35%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,961.00p -1.33%
Old Mutual (OML) 215.70p -1.28%
Glencore (GLEN) 278.15p -1.28%
Fresnillo (FRES) 745.00p -1.26%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Premier Oil (PMO) 165.00p +5.63%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 178.00p +3.49%
Soco International (SIA) 185.30p +3.06%
Laird (LRD) 398.40p +2.52%
NMC Health (NMC) 782.00p +2.29%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 5,715.00p +2.05%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,340.00p +1.82%
Rank Group (RNK) 209.20p +1.50%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 177.60p +1.49%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 120.80p +1.34%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Foxtons Group (FOXT) 274.30p -3.59%
AO World (AO.) 169.90p -3.58%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 541.50p -2.78%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 67.65p -2.66%
Debenhams (DEB) 93.35p -1.74%
BTG (BTG) 697.00p -1.69%
Investec (INVP) 583.00p -1.60%
Card Factory (CARD) 369.20p -1.55%
Redefine International (RDI) 53.95p -1.37%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 1,046.00p -1.32%