17th Feb 2015 07:32
LONDON (Alliance News) - London markets are set to open lower Tuesday, after the Eurogroup meeting concluded on Monday with no progress, with Greece resisting an extension of the current debt bailout program and Eurozone finance ministers refusing to loosen their terms.
The best way forward for the Greek authorities would be to seek an extension of the program, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said at a press conference after the meeting in Brussels. Athens has time to seek an extension of the program until Friday. Otherwise, the EUR240 billion Greek bailout program will expire on February 28.
"The next step has to come from the Greek authorities. If the request for an extension would come in, we would of course look at it, ask the institutions to review it and advise us," Dijsselbloem said.
"That they didn?t even get past early stages before collapsing doesn?t bode well," says Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
"Even though expectations were low, with no realistic prospect of a positive outcome, as both sides try and push the limits of what they are prepared to accept, or not accept, I think most people still thought that the talks would last well into the evening, as is the norm with these events," Hewson adds.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 21 points lower at 6,836. The index closed down 0.2% at 6,857.05 on Monday, in a light day of trading, with US markets closed for the President's Day and with markets focused on the Greek debt meeting, which got underway during the afternoon trading session.
In Asia on Tuesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 closed down 0.1%, and the Hang Seng trades up 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite is trading up 0.8%.
Brent crude is quoted at around USD61.98 a barrel Tuesday, and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate is quoted at USD53.18 a barrel. Gold is quoted early Tuesday at USD1,225.33 an ounce.
In the corporate front, InterContinental Hotels Group Tuesday posted flat pretax profit for 2014, but said revenue per available room growth was being driven by strong demand in the US. The group also declared a 10% increase in its total dividend per share for the year to 77.0 cents.
The hotels group, which owns brands including Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and InterContinental Hotels, reported an operating profit before exceptional items of USD651 million for 2014, down 3% on 2013's USD668 million profit, as revenue dipped 2% to USD1.86 billion, from USD1.90 billion.
In the economic calendar Tuesday, the UK Consumer, Retail and Producer Price indices are due at 0930 GMT, while German economic sentiment ZEW survey scheduled for 1000 GMT. In the US, the NY Empire State Manufacturing Index is at 1330 GMT, the US Redbook index at 1355 GMT, and the NAHB Housing Market Index at 1500 GMT.
By Daniel Ruiz; [email protected]
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
InterContinental Hotels