London midday: Banks and oil stocks drag Footsie lower after long weekend

The FTSE 100, which settled at a two-week closing high of 7,031.72 on Friday, was down 0.23% at 7,015.37 by Tuesday midday.

Concerns that Greece will struggle to make its €1.6bn debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund next month were weighing on market sentiment as prime minister Alexis Tsipras called an emergencycabinet meeting to discuss reforms.

Greek stocks dropped over 3% on Monday after interior minister Nikos Voutsis said at the weekend that Athens will not be able to meet its IMF deadline unless its works out a deal with creditors.

Meanwhile, futures on Wall Street - which was also closed on Monday - were pointing to a lower open with risk appetite weighed down by surprisingly hawkish comments from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen on Friday, who talked down economic weakness in the first quarter as being only temporary.

"She claimed once again that a rate hike is likely this year which in the absence of strong earnings is harmful for stocks and supports the dollar," Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said. "There is plenty of US data being released today that will either support or discredit Yellen’s claims," he said.

After a quiet morning in terms of economic data, the macro calendar is expected to ramp up later on in the States with the release of durable goods orders, house prices, service-sector activity, new home sales, consumer confidence and regional manufacturing surveys.

Banks and oil stocks fall, housebuilders gain

Banking stocks were mostly lower, including Barclays, RBS, Standard Chartered and Lloyds.

Oil group Soco International dropped after analysts at JPMorgan Cazenove downgraded the stock to 'underweight', saying it sees a "bumpy path for E&Ps".

Others in the sector were also trading lower as Brent crude declined 0.7% to $65.07 a barrel, including Shell, Tullow Oil and BP.

Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments and Bovis Homes were all higher after Deutsche Bank named them as its top picks in the UK housebuilding sector, highlighting attractive dividend yields across the industry.

Royal Mail was in demand after Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded the postal delivery business from 'sell' to 'hold' and hiked its target price from 440p to 500p.

Software group Micro Focus gained after reiterating its guidance to treble annual revenues on the back of a strong finish to its financial year, helped by the first contribution from its merger with The Attachment Group.

Cineworld also impressed with like-for-like revenue growth of 10.7% in its first quarter, with a stream of blockbuster films expected to deliver a strong box office year ahead.

Irish airline Ryanair surged after posting a 66% rise in full-year profit after tax as passenger numbers grew more than three times the company’s targeted level.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,303.73 +0.03%
FTSE 100 7,015.37 -0.23%
FTSE 250 18,172.01 -0.11%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Royal Mail (RMG) 517.50p +2.78%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,984.00p +2.43%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 188.00p +1.95%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 605.50p +1.68%
BT Group (BT.A) 458.05p +1.55%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,610.00p +0.94%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,954.00p +0.93%
Carnival (CCL) 3,171.00p +0.92%
ITV (ITV) 269.70p +0.82%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,926.00p +0.81%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,577.00p -1.90%
Centrica (CNA) 275.70p -1.71%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 178.20p -1.38%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,113.00p -1.35%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,974.00p -1.32%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,716.00p -1.32%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 258.00p -1.26%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,590.00p -1.20%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,948.50p -1.12%
Fresnillo (FRES) 754.50p -1.11%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Countrywide (CWD) 599.00p +3.99%
Ted Baker (TED) 2,909.00p +2.76%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 177.90p +2.54%
Inchcape (INCH) 875.50p +1.98%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,976.00p +1.91%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 510.50p +1.90%
Just Eat (JE.) 462.60p +1.45%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,075.00p +1.35%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 542.00p +1.31%
Atkins (WS) (ATK) 1,460.00p +1.25%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Tullow Oil (TLW) 397.60p -4.17%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 329.40p -3.12%
Premier Oil (PMO) 160.10p -2.85%
RPS Group (RPS) 224.40p -2.60%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 618.00p -2.29%
Synergy Health (SYR) 2,216.00p -2.29%
Investec (INVP) 633.50p -2.09%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 131.10p -2.09%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 622.00p -1.97%
Lonmin (LMI) 136.40p -1.94%