London open: UK stocks surge as Greek hopes rise, Sky jumps

UK stocks surged on Monday morning as investors breathed a sigh of relief on the back of rising hopes that Greece is set to secure a short-term deal with creditors.

The FTSE 100 was trading up 1.36% at 6,801.41 early on.

According to reports, Greece’s lenders are working on a deal to extend the country’s bailout by six months and supply up to €18bn in rescue funds.

After weeks of no progress in negotiations between Athens officials and international lenders, the deadlock was broken on Sunday night when the government submitted new proposals to the heads of the IMF, ECB and European Commission.

EU economic commissioner Pierre Moscovici said in an interview with Europe 1 radio that it was a “decisive, vital” day for Greece, though he was “convinced” that a deal would be made. “We are moving in the right direction, we have solid ground for a deal, we just have to consolidate that today,” he said.

The increased optimism could be seen across government bond markets early on Monday, with the yield on two-year Greek notes dropping to 24.9% from 28.5% on Friday. The 10-year Greek bond yield was down one whole percentage point at 11.6%.

“One thing you cannot fault is the political resolve to see a deal done, without which Greece would have been given its marching orders long ago. This optimism is giving investors an excuse to buy risk assets this morning with a strong bounce in European equities,” said FxPro analyst Angus Campbell.

Sky rises, Spire jumps on Remgro deal

Sky was in demand on rumours that the Murdoch family may be considering a fresh attempt to take full control of the UK broadband and pay-TV operator, after it knocked back approaches for its stake in the company from Vodafone and French media giant Vivendi.

FTSE 250 hospital operator Spire Healthcare rose strongly on the news that Remgro, a major shareholder of sector peer Mediclinic, is to buy a 29.9% stake from Cinven for 360p per share, equal to £432m. Mediclinc and Remgro confirmed they do not intend to make a takeover offer for the whole of Spire.

Cruise operator Carnival advanced after Deutsche Bank lifted the stock to ‘buy’, while HSBC gained on an upgrade to ‘buy’ at Investec.

Tullow Oil edged higher after settling a capital gains tax dispute with the government of Uganda and the Uganda Revenue Authority with regard to its farm-downs to CNOOC and Total in 2012.

Power generator hire firm Aggreko gained after revealing plans to restructure into two units as it announced a raft of management changes.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,190.96 +1.10%
FTSE 100 6,801.41 +1.36%
FTSE 250 17,862.63 +0.89%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Sky (SKY) 1,086.00p +4.62%
Carnival (CCL) 3,296.00p +4.04%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 418.90p +2.92%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,114.00p +2.87%
Whitbread (WTB) 5,275.00p +2.53%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 518.00p +2.47%
Reed Elsevier (REL) 1,075.00p +2.19%
WPP (WPP) 1,494.00p +2.12%
Pearson (PSON) 1,274.00p +2.08%
ITV (ITV) 271.40p +2.07%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,430.00p -1.51%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,936.00p -0.56%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 344.20p +7.56%
Diploma (DPLM) 811.50p +3.31%
Fidelity European Values (FEV) 180.30p +2.73%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 129.70p +2.69%
Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 100.10p +2.35%
Computacenter (CCC) 721.50p +2.34%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 575.50p +2.31%
Man Group (EMG) 165.70p +2.16%
esure Group (ESUR) 256.80p +2.11%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 250.60p +2.08%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 149.00p -2.61%
Allied Minds (ALM) 563.00p -2.60%
Saga (SAGA) 216.70p -2.17%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 63.65p -1.85%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 155.80p -1.77%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 561.50p -1.23%
Atkins (WS) (ATK) 1,527.00p -1.17%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 181.80p -0.93%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 1,021.00p -0.87%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 297.00p -0.83%