London open: UK stocks inch higher despite inconclusive Greek talks

Unsuccessful debt talks between Greece and Eurozone finance ministers kept investors cautious on Thursday, though London’s stock market edged higher as the FTSE 100 snapped a four-session losing streak.

The UK index was up 0.1% at 6,822 early on.

After six hours of talks in Brussels on Wednesday, the emergency Eurogroup meeting about Greece proved inconclusive, though this was widely expected.

“The meeting was the first platform where formal negotiations began, but not necessarily where decisions were due to be made. This being the first formal meeting, both sides stood firm on their positions,” said economist Gizem Kara from BNP Paribas.

Dutch finance minister and chair of the committee, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said he had wanted to agree on a framework for future talks ahead of the next Eurogroup meeting on Monday.

“Unfortunately we haven’t been able to do that so we’ll continue on Monday and move on from there,” he said.

Kara said “the absence of a common ground” between Greece and the wider Eurozone increases the risk that a stand-off will continue past Monday. As such, “the end-February expiry date of the current [bailout] programme is approaching fast”, the economist warned.

Greece will also be on the agenda at the EU summit on Thursday, along with ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

In other news, the Bank of England is expected to cut its forecasts for consumer prices to near zero when governor Mark Carney presents the central bank’s Inflation Report on Thursday. The report is due out at 10:30.

Rio impresses with returns

Mining group Rio Tinto gained as it pledged to return nearly $6bn to shareholders in respect of 2014 after hiking its full-year dividend by 12% and announcing a $2bn share buyback. "Last year, we made a clear commitment to materially increase cash returns to our shareholders. We have delivered this today,” said chief executive Sam Walsh.

Other miners such as Anglo American, Antofagasta and Randgold were also performing well.

Imperial Tobacco was also on the rise after a strong first-quarter performance from its growth brands left it confident of hitting its full-year targets.

In the FTSE 250, Zoopla disappointed with an 11% year-on-year decrease in total advertising members in the first quarter, which it claims was due to the new OnTheMarket website of Agents’ Mutual which launched in January.

The oil and gas sector was lower despite a 2% bounce in Brent crude prices to $55.77 a barrel early on with heavyweights BP and Shell both falling after going ex-dividend. Accountancy software group Sage was also in the red as shares went ex-div.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,108.96 -0.02%
FTSE 100 6,822.08 +0.06%
FTSE 250 16,654.01 +0.13%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,063.00p +3.08%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,145.00p +1.91%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,855.00p +1.59%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 701.50p +1.59%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,849.00p +1.54%
Fresnillo (FRES) 870.50p +1.34%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,491.50p +1.22%
WPP (WPP) 1,468.00p +1.17%
GKN (GKN) 378.80p +1.12%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 597.70p +0.95%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
easyJet (EZJ) 1,728.00p -2.10%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 377.80p -1.77%
Sage Group (SGE) 473.90p -1.52%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 971.50p -1.47%
BP (BP.) 440.10p -1.28%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,075.00p -1.10%
Carnival (CCL) 2,890.00p -1.03%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,047.00p -1.02%
Diageo (DGE) 1,866.00p -0.98%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,223.00p -0.96%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Hunting (HTG) 497.50p +4.32%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 636.00p +3.84%
Informa (INF) 535.00p +3.78%
Evraz (EVR) 189.60p +2.38%
Indivior (INDV) 171.50p +2.21%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 240.20p +1.91%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 603.00p +1.86%
Lonmin (LMI) 160.90p +1.77%
AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 959.50p +1.64%
ICAP (IAP) 476.50p +1.53%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
AO World (AO.) 310.00p -4.29%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 180.00p -3.23%
Afren (AFR) 8.67p -3.13%
Diploma (DPLM) 773.00p -2.77%
Premier Farnell (PFL) 158.60p -2.40%
Game Digital (GMD) 263.20p -2.19%
Interserve (IRV) 539.50p -2.00%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 490.00p -1.98%
Laird (LRD) 317.80p -1.91%
Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 690.00p -1.85%