London open: Stocks dive as euro worries drag on

23rd May 2011 08:30

Continuing worries over the Eurozone debt crisis are casting a shadow over trading this morning, helping send stocks sharply lower.The spotlight has turned to Italy, with the ratings agency Standard & Poors changing its stance on the Mediterranean country to "negative" from "stable."The situation is of global concern and metals prices have taken a knock, hurting the share prices of mining stocks such as South American copper group Antofagasta and Aquarius Platinum. Among today's heaviest fallers is British Airways owner IAG. Budget airline Ryanair set nerves jangling in the airline sector as it posted a rise in profits in the year to 31 March, but predicted flat earnings this year due in part to higher fuel costs. EasyJet also falls.Stobart Group is higher after revenue topped the half billion pounds mark but underlying profits at the logistics firm eased a tad in a year characterised by a tough operating environment. Revenue rose to £500.4m from £447.7m the year before. Market consensus had been for revenue of £489.3m. Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation slipped to £57.2m from £57.4m, while underlying profit before tax fell to £34.5m from £36.0m the year before.MITIE is another FTSE 250 stock bucking the downward trend. The outsourced service provider MITIE is benefitting from both private companies and government looking to drive down costs in the current tough climate as it posted a sharp rise in profits for the year to 31 March. Pre-tax profits jumped to £86.8m from £79.7m the previous year on revenues that were up to £1.89bn from £1.72bn.Property group British Land reported continuing strong demand for its retail and office properties in spite of economic weakness as it posted a rise in profits and net asset value (NAV) in the year to 31 March. At £256m, underlying pre-tax profits were 9.9% higher than in the previous year. The value of the company's portfolio climbed by 6.9% to £9.6bn, which lifted NAV per share by 12.5% to 567p.House builder and contractor Kier Group has trimmed its portfolio of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects with the sale of stakes in two ventures for £9.2m in cash. The group has sold 50% stakes in the Oldham and Norwich Schools projects to an HICL Infrastructure Company Limited and Kajima Partnerships Limited joint venture.Scottish soft drinks maker AG Barr toasted a strong start to the year despite increased levels of competition and promotion and is confident of continues progress. The Irn-Bru maker said total revenue for the 15 weeks to 14 May 2011 increased by 6.3% compared to the same period last year despite a continued uncertain consumer environment. FTSE 100 - RisersICAP (IAP) 472.60p +1.11%Vodafone Group (VOD) 173.50p -0.23%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,738.50p -0.25%National Grid (NG.) 630.50p -0.32%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,179.00p -0.32%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 838.50p -0.36%Next (NXT) 2,217.00p -0.40%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,084.00p -0.55%Diageo (DGE) 1,274.00p -0.55%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 339.90p -0.61%FTSE 100 - FallersJohn Wood Group (WG.) 628.50p -5.06%Wolseley (WOS) 1,945.00p -4.23%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,161.00p -3.81%TUI Travel (TT.) 228.80p -3.62%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 238.70p -3.59%Anglo American (AAL) 2,858.00p -3.17%Old Mutual (OML) 126.30p -3.14%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,210.00p -3.12%British Land Co (BLND) 574.50p -3.04%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,664.00p -2.80%FTSE 250 - RisersMitie Group (MTO) 217.50p +3.57%COLT Group SA (COLT) 151.10p +1.14%Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 398.40p +0.66%Cranswick (CWK) 793.50p +0.51%Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 126.50p +0.40%BH Global Ltd. GBP Shares (BHGG) 1,097.00p +0.37%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 303.00p +0.33%Devro (DVO) 289.60p +0.28%RPC Group (RPC) 334.90p +0.24%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 670.50p +0.22%FTSE 250 - FallerseasyJet (EZJ) 343.30p -5.35%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 144.20p -4.31%Cookson Group (CKSN) 656.00p -3.53%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 327.30p -3.31%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,720.00p -3.20%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 427.80p -3.06%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,003.00p -2.81%Computacenter (CCC) 431.00p -2.71%SVG Capital (SVI) 256.20p -2.70%Premier Oil (PMO) 452.00p -2.64%---RG