London midday: Greece, UK concerns pull Footsie to five-month low

16th May 2012 11:34

- Footsie nears five-month low- Potential Greek exit grips markets- Bank of England cuts GDP forecast, unemployment fallsConcerns over a potential exit of Greece and growth in the UK were weighing on the FTSE 100 by Wednesday lunchtime, with the Footsie sinking to intraday levels not seen since mid-December 2011.After the main political parties in Greece were unable to reach an agreement on the formation of a coalition government, the country is expected to go back to the polls in mid-June, most likely either on the 10th or 17th. Parliament is expected to be dissolved on Monday or Tuesday with a caretaker prime minister to be appointed. According to analysts, the new vote is being seen as a referendum on whether Greece will stay in the Eurozone with Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras - staunchly opposed to the terms of the bailout agreement - growing in popularity."Both Italian and Spanish 10-year yields are trading above the dreaded 6% which highlights the lack of confidence in the Eurozone and the concern amongst investors that a 'Grexit' would have a massive impact on the fragile recovery of these major economies, potentially leading to them requiring a bailout. If this does happen, it is widely believed that there would not be enough cash in the bailout funds to successfully support such an event," said analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari. He thinks that the European Central Bank is likely to restart "some form of cheap lending" in an effort to ease the pressure.Meanwhile, in domestic news, the Bank of England (BoE) says it now expects the UK economy to grow by 0.8% this year, down from the earlier forecast of 1.2%, with the Eurozone crisis continuing to pose a threat. There is a "risk of a storm heading our way from the continent", according to BoE governor Mervyn King. The Bank also said that inflation would stay above the government's 2% target "for the next year of so"UK unemployment was down 45,000 to 2.63m in three months to March, pushing the unemployment rate down from 8.3% to 8.2%. The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in April was also down 13,700 to 1.59m, the Office for National Statistics said. Forecasters had expected unemployment to remain steady and the claimant count to rise by 5,000.FTSE 100: Ex-div stocks, miners provide a drag Some heavyweight constituents were weighing on London's benchmark after trading without the right to their latest dividends. These ex-dividend stocks include Glencore, Morrison, Polymetal, Sainsbury and Whitbread. ??Miners were once again bearing the brunt of the risk-off attitude that has gripped markets over the last week as metals prices continue to fall. Xstrata, Vedanta, ENRC, Fresnillo and Kazakhmys were among the worst performers. Both Xstrata and Glencore were also being pressured lower by downgrades from UBS.Utilities group SSE was among the best performers after the group upped its full-year dividend by 6.8% following a 2% rise in adjusted pre-tax profits. Catering firm Compass edged higher after posting results that were slightly better than expected, driven by new business wins and a high rate of contract retention. A drop in trading volumes due to ongoing economic fears has hit revenues and profits at the interdealer broker ICAP in the year to the end of March, causing shares to fall. FTSE 250: Lamprell plummets after trading updateOil and gas engineering firm Lamprell has seen its share price plunge after it warned that its performance is being severely hampered by the paucity of specialised jack-up rig components. The group said it will most likely make a small loss in the first half of the year, though a recovery is expected in the second half.Digital sports media company Perform Group jumped after announcing that it is to acquire Swiss firm RunningBall, a real-time sports data provider, for between €101-120m.Oil and gas group Ophir Energy was a high riser after announcing that its joint venture with BG Group found its fifth consecutive gas discovery in Tanzania with the Mzia-1 well in Block 1 showing "significant potential upside". Provident Financial and Carillion were among the heaviest fallers early on after going ex-dividend. FTSE 100 - RisersCroda International (CRDA) 2,203.00p +3.96%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 153.00p +2.07%IMI (IMI) 898.50p +1.99%Barclays (BARC) 188.70p +1.40%Man Group (EMG) 80.60p +0.94%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 342.70p +0.71%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 248.90p +0.65%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,009.00p +0.60%Evraz (EVR) 330.00p +0.55%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 109.90p +0.46%FTSE 100 - FallersPolymetal International (POLY) 774.00p -4.27%Glencore International (GLEN) 355.15p -4.05%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 299.00p -3.98%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,333.00p -3.41%Xstrata (XTA) 969.40p -2.96%Sage Group (SGE) 252.90p -2.73%Vedanta Resources (VED) 986.00p -2.67%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 270.20p -2.49%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,524.00p -2.31%Experian (EXPN) 873.50p -2.29%FTSE 250 - RisersPerform Group (PER) 333.50p +8.10%Ruspetro (RPO) 173.60p +7.83%RPC Group (RPC) 369.60p +5.30%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 538.00p +4.47%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 73.25p +3.90%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 263.70p +2.01%Rank Group (RNK) 124.40p +1.88%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 135.20p +1.65%Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 1,222.00p +1.41%St James's Place (STJ) 317.90p +1.27%FTSE 250 - FallersLamprell (LAM) 119.00p -59.63%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 306.80p -6.52%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 88.30p -5.81%Anglo Pacific Group (APF) 263.00p -5.43%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 751.00p -5.12%SDL (SDL) 664.00p -5.01%Essar Energy (ESSR) 119.80p -4.39%Carillion (CLLN) 267.50p -4.29%Afren (AFR) 115.10p -4.16%Provident Financial (PFG) 1,113.00p -4.05%BC