London midday: Greek uncertainty pressures UK stock market lower

UK stocks declined for the fourth straight session on Wednesday with the focus firmly on Greece as the new government faces a stand-off with its international creditors.

London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 6,800 by midday, ahead of an emergency meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers in Brussels.

The summit, which kicks off at 16:30 will see Greece's Yanis Varoufakis make his debut appearance as he attempts to persuade his peers of the benefits of his bridging programme.

On Tuesday evening, Greece’s new prime minister Alexis Tsipras comfortably won a confidence vote in parliament, assuring MPs that “there is no going back […] Greece cannot return to the era of bailouts”.

“Over the week equity markets have increasingly factored in some form of bridging loan facility, which in true Eurozone fashion will kick the can a little further down the road while doing nothing to change the fundamentals,” said analyst Alastair McCaig from IG.

Tullow suspends dividend

Tullow Oil was a heavy faller after deciding to suspend its final dividend for 2014, as the exploration and production company swung to a loss of over $2bn on the back of hefty impairment charges and exploration write-offs.

In contrast, homeware retailer Dunelm pleased investors with a special dividend and a 10% increase in its interim payout after a 14% improvement in sales in the first half, helped by strong growth online and new store openings.

Commodities trader and mining giant Glencore was subdued after the announcement that it has scaled back its spending plans for 2015. However, shares in Lonmin dropped after Glencore said it is looking to divest its “non-core” 23.9% stake in the South African platinum miner.

BT Group surged after winning rights to show more Premier League (EPL) matches over the next three seasons, as a hotly-anticipated auction came to an end. BT won two out of the seven packages of rights that were on offer and will pay £320m per season, 30% more than its current contract.

Sky, however, which won five packs of live EPL rights, dropped sharply after saying it would by paying £1.39bn per annum, a bigger-than-expected 83% increase on the existing contract.

In the first results after offloading its drugs business, Reckitt Benckiser delivered fourth-quarter net revenue growth comfortably ahead of forecasts, helping shares higher.

Chip designer ARM Holdings also gained after enjoying a strong finish to 2014 with its best-ever quarterly revenues as a record number of licences were signed, many by new customers.

Data centres group Telecity Group surged after agreeing a merger with New York-listed rival Interxion, as it reported a target-hitting set of final results and a new share buyback programme.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,098.30 +0.13%
FTSE 100 6,799.62 -0.43%
FTSE 250 16,618.69 -0.24%

FTSE 100 - Risers
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,095.00p +3.69%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,775.00p +3.31%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,658.00p +2.79%
BT Group (BT.A) 455.70p +2.68%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 550.00p +2.04%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 468.10p +1.83%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 977.00p +1.72%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 138.70p +1.31%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,755.00p +0.98%
National Grid (NG.) 899.90p +0.91%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Royal Mail (RMG) 418.00p -3.29%
Sky (SKY) 923.50p -3.20%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 401.30p -3.14%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 972.00p -2.36%
GKN (GKN) 367.90p -2.28%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,130.50p -1.61%
Pearson (PSON) 1,363.00p -1.52%
BG Group (BG.) 920.10p -1.52%
Standard Life (SL.) 394.90p -1.50%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,473.00p -1.47%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Telecity Group (TCY) 965.50p +13.79%
Redrow (RDW) 331.50p +11.69%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 915.00p +5.54%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 2,330.00p +4.20%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 443.80p +2.78%
Bellway (BWY) 1,916.00p +2.46%
Evraz (EVR) 187.10p +2.41%
Pennon Group (PNN) 846.00p +2.17%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 331.60p +2.00%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 276.50p +1.92%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Indivior (INDV) 160.90p -6.13%
Lonmin (LMI) 162.20p -5.92%
Premier Oil (PMO) 156.60p -5.72%
Poundland Group (PLND) 393.70p -5.56%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 126.50p -5.03%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 201.70p -4.63%
Alent (ALNT) 343.10p -3.43%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 197.00p -3.43%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 490.20p -2.74%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 289.60p -2.72%