Hopes for Greek Saga Resolution Boost FTSE

Headline UK equity markets managed to end the last trading day of the week above breakeven as Germany and France advanced in Greek bailout negotiations

Morningstar.co.uk Editors 17 June, 2011 | 6:19PM
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UK equity markets managed to remain afloat on Friday for the first session in three as developments in the eurozone suggested agreement on a new Greek bailout package is within sight.

The FTSE 100 index ended the day 0.3% or 20 points higher at 5,720, scaling back the index’s weekly decline to 0.8%. Blue-chip gains were further supported by a raft of expiring futures and options contracts that boosted demand for majors. The FTSE 250 index moved 0.4% or 46 points forward to 11,678 on Friday but dropped 1.1% on the week overall.

Having just reshuffled its cabinet and appointed a new finance minister, Greece received news that Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has acquiesced to including private creditors in Athens’ rescue strategy by providing for voluntary rollover of Greek government bondholdings. Meanwhile, a Greek website circulated a report alleging that the country is to receive a total of EUR 150 billion in financial aid.

While markets did cheer the assurances offered by these developments, analysts remain sceptical of the efficiency of private participation in Athens’ fiscal rescue. Speaking at BofA-Merrill Lynch’s mid-year macroeconomic review earlier in the week, the investment bank’s head of G10 FX Athanasios Vamvakidis revealed he shares a deep scepticism that attempting to go the so-called ‘Vienna route’ will provoke little positive response from the private sector.

Among individual market movers on the London Stock Exchange, heavyweight miners bounced back from recent lows as derivatives contracts expiration and geopolitical news boosted investor appetite. Randgold Resources (RRS), Kazakhmys (KAZ), Lonmin (LMI) and Glencore (GLEN) were the sector’s top performers, up 1.3%-2.2%. Today Glencore had the opportunity to dismiss yet another M&A rumour with CEO Ivan Glasenberg saying that it is not currently in merger talks with peer Xstrata (XTA), although it “would be a good idea.”

On the oil front, Petrofac (PFC) and Tullow Oil (TLW) gained 1.2%-1.3% after former BP CEO Tony Hayward succeeded in raising an above-target $2.2 billion (£1.4 billion) for his new oil investment fund Vallares with financier Nat Rothschild.

Aggreko (AGK), up 2.4%, sailed to the top of the FTSE 100, boosted by an upbeat note from Goldman Sachs ahead of the company’s trading update on Monday.

Elsewhere, Imperial Tobacco (IMT) made the top five risers list as a week-load of downbeat corporate announcements resulted in share price losses and attracted bargain hunters. The company’s latest announcement is that on Friday it lost an appeal against the ban on selling tobacco products through vending machines.

Further down the list of risers, Resolution (RSL) added 1.3% after the company purchased 750,000 of its own shares.

On the shorter list of FTSE 100 fallers, ARM Holdings (ARM) dipped 1% after the company’s acquisition of Obsidian Software for an undisclosed sum failed to excite the market.

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