19th Feb 2015 10:49
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are trading mixed Thursday mid-morning, after the European Central Bank agreed a modest increase in emergency funding for Greek banks, while the country's government has officially requested for a six-month extension of its EUR240 billion loan agreement with the eurozone.
FTSE 100 is down 0.1% at 6,887.59. The FTSE 250 is up 0.1% at 7,015.49, having touched a new intraday high of 17,028.46. The AIM All-share is flat at 708.35.
"Received Greek request for six months extension," the head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said on Twitter.
Speaking on private Skai television, Greek government spokesman Gabriel Sakellarides said: "Our goal is to conclude the agreement soon."
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis expressed confidence that the extension of its loan will be approved by other finance ministers by the end of the week, and said the proposal "will satisfy the Greek side and the Eurogroup".
Greece's new leftist government wants an extension of the loans but not the austerity programme that came tied to its international debt bailout. The eurozone-provided loans were due to expire at the end of the month.
Separately, the ECB has decided to raise the support under the Emergency Liquidity Assistance for Greek banks to EUR68.3 billion. The ECB reportedly approved EUR3.3 billion funds, in addition to the current EUR65 billion.
"The ECB will not be a soft touch forever, and this time round the Greeks must make some concessions if they want the loan to be extended," says IG Markets analyst David Madden.
Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell says: "Things looked less cheery this morning. The ECB want Greece to introduce capital controls, something the notoriously prickly Varoufakis will likely be unwilling to enforce."
CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler adds: "The maintenance of the ELA should be euro-supportive given its vital importance for keeping Greek banks capitalised and preventing Grexit by default."
The ECB will be releasing minutes of its monetary policy meeting Thursday at 1230 GMT, "which will be particularly instructive as they may shed some light on what level of consensus it reached its decision to begin quantitative easing in its January 22 meeting," says Lawler.
In London, British Land Co is among the biggest gainers in the FTSE 100, up 1.6% at 824.82 pence after SocGen upgraded the property group to Buy from Hold, and raised its price target to 1,030p from 810p.
Sports Direct International is among the blue-chip index's best performers, up 1.2% after it reported a 2.5% rise in group sales for the third quarter, and a 7.6% increase in gross profit.
The company, the UK's biggest sporting goods retailer by revenue, said it is "very confident" of achieving its full-year internal underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation target of GBP360 million. That would exclude charges for its Employee Bonus Share Schemes, it said.
FTSE 100-listed SABMiller was up 0.5%. The beer and soft drinks giant said Chief Financial Officer Jamie Wilson has resigned for "personal reasons", and current Strategy Director Domenic De Lorenzo will become acting CFO with immediate effect.
Centrica is the biggest faller in the blue-chip index, down 8.9%, as it said it has reduced its dividend for the full year after swinging to a loss in 2014 on the back of a significant impairment charge, and said it will reduce its costs and capital expenditure budget over the next two years in response to the low oil price.
In the FTSE 250, Petra Diamonds is among the biggest gainers, up 5.6%. The company said it will pay a maiden dividend of 2.0 pence per share at the end of the financial year after reporting a rise in earnings and profit during the first half, and said revenue and production will increase during the second half.
US futures point to a flat to lower opening, with the DJIA down 0.1%, the S&P 500 down 0.2%, and the Nasdaq 100 flat.
The US Federal Reserve policy-makers are in no hurry to signal a possible interest rate hike, according to the minutes of the most recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
FOMC members agreed to continue to include language indicating that the Fed can "be patient" in beginning to normalize the stance of monetary policy, particularly given the dramatic drop in energy prices and low inflation.
Still in the economic calendar Thursday, the UK CBI Industrial Trends Survey is due at 1100 GMT. The EU consumer confidence is at 1500 GMT. In the US, initial and continuing jobless claims are at 1330 GMT, and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey is at 1500 GMT. US EIA crude oil stocks are due at 1530 GMT.
By Daniel Ruiz; [email protected]
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