London midday: Stocks drop ahead of weekend Greek debt talks

UK stocks were trading firmly in the red on Friday as investors showed their nerves ahead of a crucial weekend for Greece, as debt talks go down to the wire.

The FTSE 100 was trading 0.84% lower at 6,750.63 by midday, with just six constituents trading in positive territory.

“Like most of these in-between days - i.e. a day without any official ‘Greece’ meetings - Friday morning has been quiet, fairly dull, and largely negative,” said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.

Greece's international creditors have given Athens a weekend deadline to come to a debt deal or risk defaulting on a €1.6bn repayment due to the IMF on 30 June.

After failing to reach an agreement on Thursday, another Eurogroup meeting has been scheduled for Saturday morning with a view to an agreement being made before markets open on Monday morning. This would mark the fifth Eurogroup meeting in nine days.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Brussels to discuss proposals on Friday morning.

Outside the meeting, Merkel was cited as saying that Saturday’s summit will be “decisive” in deciding the future for Greece. “Time is of the essence,” she said.

Tesco gains, ARM drops

Supermarket chain Tesco gained after reporting that the ongoing slide in sales was slowing. UK like-for-like sales fell by 1.3% in the 13 weeks to 30 May, after 1.7% and 5.1% declines seen in the fourth and third quarters of the previous financial year.

Sector rivals Morrisons and Sainsbury’s were also higher.

ARM Holdings shares slumped after Bernstein downgraded the stock to ‘underperform’ from ‘market perform’ and slashed the price target to 800p from 1,000p. “We see a genuine risk of the smartphone slowdown observed in 1Q 2015 being the first of a series, more than an inventory correction,” said Bernstein.

A number of heavyweight mining stocks were also weaker, including Anglo American, Glencore and BHP Billiton.

Energy services outfit Wood Group declined after analysts at Beaufort Securities lowered their rating on the stock to ‘hold’, while sector peer Petrofac fell after being cut to ‘sell’ at Deutsche Bank.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,167.79 -0.77%
FTSE 100 6,750.63 -0.84%
FTSE 250 17,830.28 -0.64%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Tesco (TSCO) 224.65p +3.17%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 278.70p +1.57%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 185.20p +1.15%
Carnival (CCL) 3,363.00p +0.60%
BT Group (BT.A) 463.00p +0.39%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,149.00p +0.09%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,109.00p -3.40%
Anglo American (AAL) 975.20p -1.97%
SSE (SSE) 1,583.00p -1.80%
Glencore (GLEN) 269.10p -1.63%
BG Group (BG.) 1,092.00p -1.58%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,878.50p -1.55%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,204.00p -1.55%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,315.50p -1.53%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,978.00p -1.52%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 890.50p -1.44%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 570.00p +2.61%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 315.00p +2.44%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 951.50p +2.31%
Dignity (DTY) 2,157.00p +2.03%
John Laing Group (JLG) 218.00p +1.68%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 312.70p +1.66%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,125.00p +1.63%
Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate (KWE) 1,137.00p +1.43%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 424.00p +1.41%
Betfair Group (BET) 2,437.00p +1.25%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 149.90p -6.95%
Evraz (EVR) 129.90p -4.06%
Genus (GNS) 1,416.00p -3.93%
Serco Group (SRP) 121.80p -3.56%
Premier Farnell (PFL) 174.20p -3.44%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 306.70p -2.57%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 340.10p -2.55%
FirstGroup (FGP) 124.10p -2.44%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 218.50p -2.32%
Senior (SNR) 299.40p -2.28%