London midday: UK stocks slip as Greek uncertainty hits sentiment

The FTSE 100 was down 0.9% at 6,576.11 after hitting a three-week high the previous session.

Greek politics were in focus for those traders returning from their Christmas breaks after parliament failed to elect a president on Monday, triggering a snap general election on 25 January.

Concerns about the increasing support for anti-austerity party Syriza caused bond yields to soar on Monday in Greece - 10-year bond yields exceeded 9.5% for the first time since September 2013 - while US Treasuries gained due to haven demand.

Analyst David Madden from IG said: “The possibility of the anti-austerity Syriza party gaining control in Greece is exercising traders' minds this morning, leading to a firmly cautious mentality developing in UK and European indices.” Madden acknowledged that the “fear factor” was being “exacerbated by thin trading volumes”.

In more positive news, a bond auction in Italy on Tuesday morning saw 10-year bonds yield drop below 2% for the first time in history, showing that investors were optimistic that the Greek crisis will be contained.

Oil prices declined for the fourth straight day on Tuesday with West Texas Intermediate futures falling 0.8% to $53.21 a barrel and Brent down 0.8% at $57.40. WTI settled at $53.61 on Monday, its lowest close since May 2009.

US government data due out Wednesday is expected to show that crude stockpiles stayed at 387.2m barrels last week, with inventories remaining at their highest since June.

Next leads retailers higher, oil stocks tank

Fashion retailer Next rose strongly after forecasting annual profits slightly ahead of guidance and announcing a new 50p special dividend. Next said it now expected full-year profits to be within £10m either side of £775m, £5m ahead of the mid-point profit guidance it issued in October.

Others in the retail sector were also in demand, such as Marks & Spencer, Kingfisher, N Brown and Ocado.

Oil stocks such as Tullow Oil, Shell, Premier Oil, BP and BHP Billiton were lower as crude prices continued to fall. According to financial risk management firm Company Watch, 70% of UK-listed oil and gas groups are unprofitable at current crude prices and a third are in danger of bankruptcy.

BG Group also declined despite taking a step towards starting production from three oil and gas fields off the coast of Brazil.

In contrast, travel stocks were benefitting from the continued slump in oil, with Easyjet, IAG and Carnival making gains.

Market Movers

techMARK 2,956.18 -0.42%
FTSE 100 6,576.11 -0.87%
FTSE 250 16,027.94 -0.14%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Next (NXT) 6,715.00p +3.07%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,677.00p +2.13%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 479.80p +1.72%
Whitbread (WTB) 4,753.00p +0.57%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,182.00p +0.51%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 293.10p +0.45%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 484.90p +0.35%
Barclays (BARC) 243.30p +0.35%
GKN (GKN) 351.40p +0.20%
Kingfisher (KGF) 334.60p +0.18%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,155.50p -2.40%
BG Group (BG.) 868.40p -2.39%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,168.00p -2.10%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,237.50p -2.06%
Pearson (PSON) 1,165.00p -1.94%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 414.40p -1.87%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,892.00p -1.82%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,508.00p -1.76%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,383.00p -1.71%
BP (BP.) 410.90p -1.70%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 373.60p +4.97%
Playtech (PTEC) 671.00p +2.76%
Afren (AFR) 47.21p +2.68%
Supergroup (SGP) 898.50p +2.63%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 195.00p +2.63%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 405.20p +2.58%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 113.30p +2.44%
Rightmove (RMV) 2,248.00p +2.18%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 197.10p +2.07%
Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 116.70p +1.92%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Alent (ALNT) 319.50p -4.37%
IP Group (IPO) 208.80p -3.96%
Just Eat (JE.) 308.50p -3.59%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 570.00p -3.23%
Premier Oil (PMO) 163.30p -2.86%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 860.50p -2.77%
Hunting (HTG) 524.00p -2.60%
Game Digital (GMD) 350.70p -2.53%
Rotork (ROR) 2,345.00p -2.33%
Serco Group (SRP) 156.20p -2.25%