London close: Stocks trim losses on Greek hopes, Chinese stimulus

A late rally helped the FTSE 100 to erase most of its losses on Wednesday as optimism surrounding Greece and stimulus measures in China lifted sentiment, though stocks still finished in the red after hitting a five-month high the previous day.

London's Footsie ended the session down 0.2% at 6,860.02, bouncing strongly in the last couple of hours after hitting an intraday low of 6,804.10, with pharma heavyweight Glaxosmithkline rising after its results announcement.

Greece's prime minister Alexis Tsipras said in a press conference that he believes a debt relief deal can be met without the country leaving the EU. Tsipras said despite not having a deal yet, the country is "moving in the right direction".

The prime minister travelled to Brussels to propose the new government's debt-swap plan to EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. Greece has backed down from calling for a total debt write-off and has instead proposed swapping outstanding debt for new growth-linked bonds.

Meanwhile, Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who held a meeting in Frankfurt with European Central Bank head Mario Draghi, said that discussions about easing the terms of the country's bailout were “very fruitful”.

Elsewhere, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) trimmed the banks’ reserve requirement ratio by 50 basis points to 19.5%, the first such cut since May 2012, in an effort to boost lending into the real economy.

According to FXTM analyst Jameel Ahmad, the PBoC was the 16th central bank across the globe to ease monetary policy this year in a move that "will be seen by many as a direct response to continued indications of slowing domestic momentum". He said the cut in the reserve requirement will be judged "by the markets as a positive move to reinvigorate economic growth".

A raft of service-sector data was released during Wednesday session, showing that growth had picked up in the UK, Eurozone and US but eased in China.

Glaxo leads late rally

Sales, profits and earnings slumped during the last quarter of the year at drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline due to headwinds in the US market, though the company pleased investors after confirming it would return £4bn cash from its deal with Novartis.

Others in the pharma sector was also in demand, such as Astrazeneca, Hikma and Synergy Health with the latter benefiting after reporting a solid acceleration in underlying revenue growth in its third quarter.

In its first set of results since slimming down its name to Sky and absorbing its German and Italian sister companies, the satellite broadcaster delivered a strong set of interim figures and cited good momentum in all its markets, causing shares to rise.

Half-yearly results from fund manager and savings outfit Hargreaves Lansdown showed record assets under administration and growing client numbers, though shares fell sharply after revenues and profits came in shy of City expectations.

Oil stocks were stuck in the red as the recent rally in crude prices came to an end with Brent falling 2.9%. Shell, Tullow, Afren and BHP Billiton all declined.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,083.09 +0.68%
FTSE 100 6,860.02 -0.17%
FTSE 250 16,571.64 +0.01%

FTSE 100 - Risers
ITV (ITV) 230.60p +3.64%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,069.00p +3.09%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,778.00p +2.72%
Wolseley (WOS) 3,888.00p +1.94%
CRH (CRH) 1,779.00p +1.89%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 470.00p +1.78%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,476.00p +1.58%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,079.00p +1.41%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,796.00p +1.41%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 542.00p +1.40%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 966.00p -7.56%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 395.90p -5.15%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 181.50p -2.42%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 266.70p -2.16%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,527.00p -2.02%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,596.00p -1.84%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,150.00p -1.71%
BG Group (BG.) 932.00p -1.38%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,398.00p -1.28%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,528.50p -1.27%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Rank Group (RNK) 185.50p +4.80%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 158.20p +4.42%
AO World (AO.) 319.50p +4.28%
Booker Group (BOK) 153.50p +3.44%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 448.60p +3.08%
AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 927.50p +3.00%
Countrywide (CWD) 496.80p +2.88%
Lonmin (LMI) 172.30p +2.62%
Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 1,778.00p +2.48%
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 425.10p +2.46%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Afren (AFR) 11.10p -6.25%
Premier Oil (PMO) 161.10p -5.79%
Hunting (HTG) 456.20p -4.70%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 596.00p -4.03%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,390.00p -3.67%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 120.10p -3.15%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 126.10p -3.00%
Interserve (IRV) 541.50p -2.96%
Diploma (DPLM) 755.50p -2.58%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 742.50p -2.24%