Selasa, 15 Mei 2012

FTSE LIVE: Greek crisis dominates markets as fresh elections loom

FTSE LIVE: Greek crisis dominates markets as fresh elections loom

By This Is Money Reporters

PUBLISHED: 02:29 EST, 15 May 2012 | UPDATED: 02:29 EST, 15 May 2012

The FTSE 100 has opened up 17.3 points at 5,482.8, staging a small recovery after the previous session's heavy falls,

The blue chip index plunged 110 points or 2 per cent yesterday to 5,465.52 - its lowest close since December 2011 - as the prospect of Greece crashing out of the euro alarmed investors.

The sell-off saw it drop through the 200-day moving average around 5,554.45, quickly followed by the psychologically key 5,500 mark, with the index down over 8 per cent from its mid-March peaks.       

Euro crisis: Greeks hold fresh protests as the president desperately tries to form a new government

Euro crisis: Greeks hold fresh protests as the president desperately tries to form a new government

Greece's president Karolos Papoulias will today ask politicians to stand aside and let a government of technocrats steer the nation away from bankruptcy.

But the leftist Syriza party led by Alexis Tsipras has already rejected the proposal and looks set to force a new election it looks poised to win. 

Germany's better-than-expected GDP figures have proved one bright spot for the eurozone

The German economy grew a surprise 0.5 per cent in the first quarter of the year, well ahead of a consensus forecast of 0.1 per cent. Exports helped it bounce back from contraction of 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter.

However, Italian banks are in the spotlight after Moody's cut the long-term debt and deposit ratings for 26 institutions, citing the country's recession and rising bad debt level.

London copper has hit fresh four-month lows as investors avoided riskier assets, put off by a slowing Chinese economy and Greece's increasingly complicated political woes.

Brent crude futures fell towards $111 a barrel as worries about Greece sparked a sell-off in U.S. dollar-denominated commodities.     

British trade data for March will be released later, with a global trade gap of £8.40billion forecast, after an £8.772billion deficit in February.

Stocks to watch today include:

Barclays: The lender wants to sell its retail banking business in France and keep only its business dealing with corporate customers there, Les Echos reported in a preview of the front page of its Tuesday edition.    

G4S: The world's biggest security firm posted a 7.5 per cent rise in first quarter revenues, helped by strong growth in developing markets, and said it expected to make further earnings progress in 2012.      

Smiths Group: The engineer said its expectations for the year remain in line with the guidance given with its interim results, with its underlying headline operating profit and sales for the nine months to April 28 both ahead of the same period last year.

FC Asset Management: The fund manager said it plans to extend its range of investment trusts and has introduced a revised compensation scheme for senior managers, as it reported long-awaited plans to shake-up its flagging retail businesses.     

Babcock: The engineering contractor reported a 26 per cent increase in full-year pretax profit to £274.1million, on revenue up 14 per cent to £3.07billion. It expects to make strong progress in 2012/13, with earnings ahead of previous expectations. 

Enterprise Inns: The pubs operator reported a fall in first-half underlying pretax profit to £64million, down from £74million a year earlier. It expects trading conditions to remain challenging but is confident a summer of significant national events will stimulate business, and forecasts results for the full year in line with its expectations.     

TT Electronics: The electronics group said its performance for 2012 is anticipated to be in line with the board's expectations.

Renishaw: The firm said it expects its full-year adjusted pre-tax profit to be a little higher than the £80.4million recorded in the previous year, as despite cont inuing global macroeconomic uncertainties it is starting to see signs of an upturn in the electronics market.

Marshalls: The building materials firm said revenue for the four months ended April 30 was 3 per cent lower than last year as, after a satisfactory first quarter, sales did not show their usual post-Easter uplift, and the group remains cautious about the short term outlook.    

Hochschild Mining: The mid cap miner will invest $425million in two projects in Peru over the next two years, its executive chairman Eduardo Hochschild said during the International Gold Symposium in Lima.            

International Power, Capita, Spirax Sarco, Proximagen, Regus: Annual general meetings.   

Drax Group, Capital Counties Properties, Unite, DRS Data and Research: Trading updates.             

Sanderson: First-quarter results.

OMG, Noble Investments: First-half results.   

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