London open: Stocks shrug off Greek woes, Hikma and COLT surge

UK stocks edged higher on Friday morning despite a bleak outcome to the Eurogroup meeting, as finance minsters failed to come up with proposals to solve the Greek debt crisis.

However, given that expectations were low going into Thursday’s meeting, disappointment may have already been priced in, analysts said.

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said “investors appears surprisingly calm”. He said: “They’re not necessarily displaying the kind of risk aversion you might typically see ahead of such an uncertain weekend.”

The FTSE 100, which touched a five-month low earlier in the week, was up 0.23% at 6,723.25 early on Friday as markets tracked a strong performance on Wall Street the previous session.

Blue chips Hikma and Ashtead were performing well after broker upgrades, while FTSE 250 outfit COLT surged after a takeover offer

The three main US stock indices jumped at least 1% each in the aftermath of dovish comments from the Federal Reserve and lower-than-expected inflation data. The Nasdaq Composite index in particular closed up 1.3% to finish at a new all-time high of 5,133.

With the economic data and corporate news calendar for Friday looking pretty thin, sentiment is likely to be driven by developments (if any) from Greece as concerns about a run on the country’s banks grow.

According to reports, some €2bn has already been withdrawn from Greek banks so far this week, including a record €1bn on Wednesday alone. Furthermore, an ECB official has warned that Greek banks may not be able to open at all next week due to insufficient funds.

Officials have now agreed to hold an emergency EU summit on Monday in what is being seen as a last-ditch attempt to secure funds for Greece, as it nears a €1.6bn debt repayment to the IMF on 30 June.

“Concerns that banks may not be able to open on Monday (or on Tuesday after a potential failure of the emergency summit), or that the banks may not have sufficient funds then, could lead to new deposit outflows today,” said Holger Schmieding from Berenberg. “The situation in Greece could get tense fast,” he said.

Hikma and Ashtead upgraded, COLT soars

Pharmaceuticals group Hikma was a high riser early on after analysts at Citigroup upgraded the stock from ‘neutral’ to ‘buy’, recommending investors to “keep the faith” despite a 25% drop in the shares since late February.

Equipment rental outfit Ashtead was also boosted by comments from Exane BNP Paribas, which lifted its rating on the shares to ‘outperform’.

Shares in Colt surged 20% after Fidelity said it has made a 190p per share offer for the remaining in the stake in the company it does not already own. The board, however, reckons that the offer undervalues the company.

Standard Life edged higher after announced that chief executive David Nish will step down on 5 August after six years in the role, to be succeeded by Keith Skeoch, who is currently boss of Standard Life Investments.

N Brown, the home shopping group which brands such as Simply Be and Jacamo, rose after saying its full-year guidance remains unchanged after an “encouraging start to the year”.

Mining stocks were pulling back after a strong showing on Thursday, with Glencore, Anglo American and Antofagasta among the worst performers.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,169.78 +0.69%
FTSE 100 6,723.25 +0.23%
FTSE 250 17,755.40 +0.43%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,997.00p +5.38%
Tesco (TSCO) 214.35p +2.31%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,122.00p +2.00%
3i Group (III) 525.50p +1.64%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,695.00p +1.35%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,102.00p +1.29%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 439.50p +1.13%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,084.00p +1.12%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,223.00p +1.07%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,639.00p +1.05%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 709.00p -1.12%
Anglo American (AAL) 980.10p -1.07%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,321.00p -0.90%
Glencore (GLEN) 274.10p -0.81%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,734.50p -0.55%
BP (BP.) 432.15p -0.53%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,788.00p -0.45%
Centrica (CNA) 274.00p -0.40%
Kingfisher (KGF) 361.70p -0.36%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,032.00p -0.34%

FTSE 250 - Risers
COLT Group SA (COLT) 188.00p +19.97%
Poundland Group (PLND) 312.30p +4.07%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 180.60p +2.03%
AA (AA.) 392.90p +1.89%
WH Smith (SMWH) 1,523.00p +1.74%
De La Rue (DLAR) 555.00p +1.74%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,174.00p +1.73%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 231.80p +1.67%
Provident Financial (PFG) 2,914.00p +1.67%
Halma (HLMA) 767.50p +1.59%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Card Factory (CARD) 335.00p -6.81%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 157.50p -2.84%
Hunting (HTG) 585.50p -2.58%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 356.10p -2.44%
AO World (AO.) 144.10p -1.84%
NMC Health (NMC) 815.00p -1.75%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 300.10p -1.45%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 862.00p -1.37%
Computacenter (CCC) 724.50p -1.23%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 223.60p -1.11%