London midday: China, Eurozone worries weigh on stocks

5th Mar 2012 11:49

- China cuts 2012 GDP target to 7.5%.- Eurozone/UK services PMIs disappoint.- German DSW recommends rejecting PSI deal.Stocks continued to fall by lunchtime on Monday, as the combination of disappointing economic data from the UK and Eurozone and some conservative growth forecasts from China weighed on sentiment.Wen Jiabao, the Premier of the world's second-largest economy, revealed that the country had reduced its gross domestic product (GDP) target for 2012 to 7.5%, the first time below the 8% level in the last eight years. The economy expanded by 9.2% in 2011. "I wish to stress that in setting a slightly lower GDP growth rate, we hope...to guide people in all sectors to focus their work on accelerating the transformation of the pattern of economic development and making economic development more sustainable and efficient," Wen said.Meanwhile, Europe is awaiting a final decision this week on the Greek debt restructuring. Private investors have a March 8th deadline to decide if they will accept a debt exchange in which they will be required to take a 53.5% haircut in an agreement that would save Athens about €106bn (£88bn). The Greek government has set a 75% participation rate in order to go ahead with the deal by Thursday evening, and so that it can in turn secure a €130bn (£108bn) international bail-out package.While the Institute for International Finance (IIF) is said to be confident that enough private sector investors will agree to the Greek government's debt exchange offer, Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz (which represents German holders of Greek debt) has advised those with short maturities to not accept the offer. "Only creditors whose holdings have bonds with longer maturities, who want to reduce risks, should consider taking part," the DSW said, according to a translation by the Guardian.ECONOMIC DATAThe Markit/CIPS services purchasing managers' index (PMI) for February came in at 53.8 points, versus a reading of 56.0 in the month before. The consensus estimate was for 54.8.Meanwhile, the Eurozone service sector PMI fell to 48.8 after the previous month's reading of 50.4. The consensus estimate was for 50.4.MINERS TANK ON CHINESE OUTLOOK China's decision to lower its forecast for growth in 2012 knocked the miners this morning, with Vedanta, Polymetal, Evraz, Kazakhmys and Xstrata among the worst performers. Commodities firm Glencore is performing relatively better, down just 1.7% after reporting increases in revenues and earnings for 2011. Revenue during its first year as a listed company was $186bn; a 28% increase compared to 2010. The increase was primarily due to higher average prices in crude oil, copper, wheat and gold. Net income after significant items was up 7% at $4.3bn.However, one of the heaviest fallers was engineering group Weir after Citi downgraded its rating from sell to neutral and cut its target price from 1,950p to 1,850p. Supermarket giants Morrison, Sainsbury and Tesco were all feeling the effects of a downgrade from Oriel Securities. The latter was down 0.6% despite announcing that it is to create 20,000 new jobs in the UK over the next two years through a significant investment in customer service, redeveloping existing stores and opening new ones.Leading the rise was product testing group Intertek after its 2011 results passed with flying colours, with both revenue and profits ahead of market expectations.Oilfield services group Petrofac wasn't far behind after saying that it is growing increasingly confident of hitting its mid-term target of more than doubling its recurring 2010 group earnings by 2015, after a solid 2011. Also rising was oil giant BP after having finally reached a $7.8bn settlement to resolve the majority of claims stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010. FTSE 250: MISYS UP, DUNELM DOWN Funds advised by CVC Capital Partners and ValueAct Capital Master Fund, the largest shareholder in Misys, are working together on a making a joint cash offer for the financial software provider. Misys has confirmed it is in talks with the pair, and has formed an independent committee of the board ofdirectors to consider all of the proposals before it. Leading the fallers was bedding and curtains retailer Dunelm after it announced that Will Adderley, the Executive Deputy Chairman and the son of the founder of the company, plans to cash in a big chunk of his shares. Adderley and his wife, Nadine, are offloading around 5m shares, representing about 2.5% of the issued share capital of Dunelm.BCFTSE 100 - RisersIntertek Group (ITRK) 2,420.00p +4.58%Diageo (DGE) 1,528.00p +1.56%BP (BP.) 504.00p +1.51%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,593.00p +1.21%Compass Group (CPG) 643.50p +1.18%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,402.00p +0.90%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,227.00p +0.59%Next (NXT) 2,761.00p +0.58%AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,832.50p +0.53%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,503.00p +0.52%FTSE 100 - FallersEssar Energy (ESSR) 108.50p -4.66%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,958.00p -3.74%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,401.00p -3.65%Evraz (EVR) 398.30p -3.21%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 968.00p -3.20%Serco Group (SRP) 542.50p -3.12%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,457.00p -2.89%Man Group (EMG) 148.10p -2.89%GKN (GKN) 212.30p -2.79%Polymetal International (POLY) 1,020.00p -2.76%FTSE 250 - RisersMisys (MSY) 338.00p +6.93%Chemring Group (CHG) 426.10p +3.85%Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 112.50p +3.02%Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 161.20p +2.35%Ocado Group (OCDO) 105.10p +2.04%Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 256.50p +1.58%Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 129.80p +1.41%Atkins (WS) (ATK) 777.50p +1.24%International Personal Finance (IPF) 250.70p +1.13%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,040.00p +1.10%FTSE 250 - FallersDunelm Group (DNLM) 480.00p -5.60%Petropavlovsk (POG) 660.00p -4.76%Amlin (AML) 335.10p -4.67%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 47.60p -4.11%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 309.80p -3.88%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 141.40p -3.87%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 55.45p -3.57%Afren (AFR) 133.30p -3.55%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 138.90p -3.54%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 511.50p -3.49%