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London open: Stocks decline as Greece holds debt talks with lenders
London stocks fell on Friday as Eurozone officials said Greece and its international lenders are unlikely to reach an agreement on debt relief.
Greece is holding talks with lenders on Friday in the hopes of unlocking further loans. However, the chairman of Eurozone finance ministers, Jeroen Disselbloem told reports “don’t expect any deals today” as discussions on debt had only just begun.
“If we make progress on the content of the program and the next steps then we need to start the discussion on debt,” he said.
The Eurozone also saw the release of worse-than-expected manufacturing data. Markit’s purchasing managers’ index fell to 51.5 in April from 51.6, missing forecasts of 51.9. A reading above 50 signals an expansion in sector activity while a level below that indicates a contraction.
Markit’s US PMI is due at 1445 BST with analysts expecting an increase to 52 in April from 51.5 in March.
In the UK, there is little out to drive the market. “The FTSE doesn’t actually have much to look forward to this Friday, leaving investors little reason to avoid the 50 point fall the index saw soon after the bell,” said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.
“As ever the mining stocks made up the majority of the FTSE’s drag this morning, joined by a wobble from the UK oil stocks despite Brent Crude climbing back above $45 per barrel.”
At 0850 BST, Brent crude rose 1.04% to $45.00 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate climbed 1.3% to $43.75 per barrel.
Mining stocks were the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100, including Rio Tinto, Glencore, Antofagastaand Anglo American as metal prices dropped.
Housebuilders rallied, including Berkeley Group, Barratt Developments, Travis Perkins andPersimmon. Cannacord Genuity said in a note to investors that UK housebuilders were expected to enjoy “steady volume growth” going forward despite a downgrade to forecasts of 2016 construction output by Experian. “With strong order books they appear well placed to weather any short-term slowdown ahead of the Brexit vote,” the broker said.
Hammerson was in the red after the property development and investment company signed a £420m unsecured revolving credit facility with eight international banks, at an initial margin of 90 basis points.
Saga gained after its main shareholder and former private equity owner Acromas sold off its last remaining shares overnight, with chairman Andrew Goodsell taking the opportunity to buy £5m of stock.
