London open: Footsie at lowest levels since mid-December

16th May 2012 09:04

- Greek concerns dent Footsie again- Glencore, Sainsbury fall after going ex-dividend- Lamprell tanks on FTSE 250 London's FTSE 100 suffered a third straight sell-off on Wednesday, sending the blue chip index to a near five-month low in early trading on the back of concerns over the political situation in Greece.The Footsie was trading at its lowest intraday low since December 20th 2011.After the main political parties in Greece were unable to reach an agreement on the formation of a coalition government nine days after the last elections, 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, in accordance with the constitution, from one of Greece's three highest courts."The  next vote is being branded a referendum to stay in the Eurozone due to growing support for Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras, who has vowed to tear up the bailout agreement which the Eurozone leaders have  indicated would lead to Greece being kicked out the Eurozone," said analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.Following a meeting between new French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday, the two premiers expressed that Greece should stay part of the single-currency. "I want to reiterate, and we agreed on this, that we want Greece to remain in the euro," stated Angela Merkel. FTSE 100: Ex-div stocks, miners provide a dragSome 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, ENRC, Fresnillo, Kazakhmys and Rio Tinto were among the worst performers. Both Xstrata and Glencore were also being pressured lower by downgrades from UBS.Just a handful of stocks were making gains on the Footsie, with utilities group SSE being one of them after the group upped its full-year dividend by 6.8% following a 2% rise in adjusted pre-tax profits.Royal Bank of Scotland was suffering losses after Exane BNP Paribas cut its target price for the stock by an eighth. Barclays and Lloyds were also in the red.Catering firm Compass fell despite 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, gas and energy engineer Lamprell dropped over 60% after saying that it would incur a "small loss" in the first half and full-year margins would be "considerably below" its expectations. The company said its "financial performance has been adversely affected mainly by progressive delays in key specialised vendor equipment deliveries for new build jackup projects together with the progressive slippage in the timing of expected new project awards and delayed client deliverables."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) 2,174.00p +2.60%SSE (SSE) 1,333.00p +0.60%FTSE 100 - FallersPolymetal International (POLY) 756.00p -6.49%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 296.00p -4.95%Glencore International (GLEN) 352.30p -4.82%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,331.00p -3.55%Xstrata (XTA) 964.00p -3.50%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 682.50p -3.47%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 465.00p -3.39%Vedanta Resources (VED) 980.00p -3.26%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,858.50p -3.22%Anglo American (AAL) 2,023.50p -2.97%FTSE 250 - RisersPerform Group (PER) 330.20p +7.03%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 540.00p +4.85%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 342.90p +3.47%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 71.60p +1.56%Ruspetro (RPO) 163.10p +1.30%BH Macro Ltd. EUR Shares (BHME) € 19.86 +0.51%PZ Cussons (PZC) 338.70p +0.15%Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 307.30p +0.10%Misys (MSY) 349.20p +0.09%BH Global Ltd. GBP Shares (BHGG) 1,175.00p 0.00%FTSE 250 - FallersLamprell (LAM) 110.00p -62.69%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 87.65p -6.51%Petropavlovsk (POG) 366.00p -6.27%Carillion (CLLN) 263.20p -5.83%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 14.00p -5.41%Provident Financial (PFG) 1,099.00p -5.26%Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 204.60p -4.57%Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 73.25p -4.56%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 313.30p -4.54%Inchcape (INCH) 324.90p -4.47%BC