London open: Standard Life, energy stocks support markets ahead of Greek meeting

UK stocks edged higher on Friday morning on the back of well-received results from Standard Life and gains in the oil sector as investors awaited a pivotal meeting about Greek debt later on.

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.06% at 6,892.72 early on.

The index has remained broadly flat over the last three sessions after hitting a 15-year high on Tuesday, as it continues to fluctuate below the all-time high of 6,930.20 reached in December 1999.

The Eurogroup is set to meet in Brussels at 14:00 to discuss Greece’s proposal for a loan extension, albeit on different terms on the existing bailout. Germany has already rejected the request, saying it was “not a substantial solution”.

“This is not to say that the Greek request was made in vain, since Eurogroup president [Jeroen] Dijsselbloem did convene the Eurogroup for a new meeting, to be held this afternoon. The language from the Eurogroup seems to be hardening, though,” said analysts at Rabobank.

They said that the “game of chicken’ could very well continue over the weekend and into next week”. Greece's current bailout programme is set to expire on 28 February.

UK retail sales data and surveys on Eurozone and US manufacturing are also due out on Friday.

After Brent crude dropped sharply in early trading on Thursday to around $57 a barrel, losses were quickly erased by the end of the session and the rebound was continuing on Friday with prices up 0.5% at $60.52 a barrel.

“This is yet another reassuring sign from the commodity; even when it has seen big intra-day falls, its resilience has allowed it to stall before these declines could become a sustained plunge,” said analyst Connor Campbell from Spreadex.

Standard Life and oil stocks rise

Insurance giant Standard Life impressed after beating forecasts with a 19% increase in annual operating profit before tax from continuing operations to £604m, while the total dividend was lifted 7.8% to 17.03p per share. The recent acquisition of Ignis also helped it to increase assets under administration by 38% in 2014.

Oil and gas stocks were tracking crude prices higher with Tullow Oil, BG Group and Shell among the best performers on the FTSE 100. Miners Anglo American, Glencore and Antofagasta also provided a lift.

Serco was higher after Credit Suisse upgraded its rating on the outsourcing group to ‘neutral’ and hiked its target price from 142p to 208p.

DIY retailer Kingfisher however was lower after Barclays Capital cut its recommendation to ‘underweight’, while housebuilder Persimmon was lowered to ‘neutral’ by JPMorgan Cazenove.

Essentra, the plastic, fibre and foam products group, advanced after exceeding expectations for 2014 with like-for-like revenue up 9% and adjusted earning per share up 19%.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,136.33 +0.10%
FTSE 100 6,892.72 +0.06%
FTSE 250 17,054.47 +0.03%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Standard Life (SL.) 418.90p +2.55%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,898.00p +1.93%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 403.50p +1.33%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,008.00p +1.20%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 502.00p +1.09%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,064.00p +1.04%
St James's Place (STJ) 914.50p +0.94%
National Grid (NG.) 899.30p +0.92%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,136.00p +0.71%
GKN (GKN) 382.70p +0.66%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Kingfisher (KGF) 340.80p -2.04%
Hammerson (HMSO) 661.50p -1.64%
Fresnillo (FRES) 826.00p -1.26%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,966.00p -1.17%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 558.50p -0.98%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,769.00p -0.90%
Intu Properties (INTU) 362.60p -0.85%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,695.00p -0.82%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,062.00p -0.81%
Carnival (CCL) 2,920.00p -0.75%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Serco Group (SRP) 214.30p +6.94%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 206.20p +4.30%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 600.00p +2.92%
Afren (AFR) 10.90p +2.73%
Man Group (EMG) 188.20p +2.45%
Premier Oil (PMO) 178.80p +2.17%
Keller Group (KLR) 960.00p +2.07%
Infinis Energy (INFI) 202.10p +2.02%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 586.00p +1.91%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 934.00p +1.91%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 86.00p -3.64%
Computacenter (CCC) 675.00p -3.63%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,016.00p -2.50%
Allied Minds (ALM) 500.00p -2.34%
NMC Health (NMC) 501.44p -2.06%
Alent (ALNT) 338.90p -2.05%
Hays (HAS) 159.60p -1.78%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 64.90p -1.67%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 277.60p -1.60%
Unite Group (UTG) 509.50p -1.36%