London midday: FTSE flat as UK stocks pause at 15-year high

18th Feb 2015 12:16

UK stocks had erased gains and were trading broadly flat by Wednesday lunchtime, though the FTSE 100 held just short of its all-time high on the back of hopes for Greece.The FTSE 100 was up just 0.04% at 6,900.77 by midday, having pulled back after reaching a high of 6,921.32 early on.The last time the index closed above this level was on 30 December 1999 when it settled at a record high of 6,930.20. The intraday record of 6,950.60 was reached on that same day.Greece has confirmed that it will request a six-month extension "loan agreement" with its European creditors, but is not willing to continue on the same terms as its existing bailout agreement.The extension is thought to be based largely on a compromise plan assembled on Monday by European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici, although this was largely shot down on Monday by the Eurogroup.Athens spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis declined to give exact details of the request, but said finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was submitting "the request for an extension of the loan contract" later on Wednesday.News flow from Ukraine also helped to lift sentiment on the markets on reports that Ukrainian forces were retreating from the town of Debaltseve. Fighting had continued with pro-Russian rebels at the transport hub over recent days despite a ceasefire having been agreed at the weekend.Closer to home, the Bank of England revealed that its Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep rates unchanged at its February meeting. However, members did express differences of opinion over when to hike rates given the outlook for inflation, which dropped to a record low of 0.3% in January.In other news, the International Labour Organisation said UK unemployment dipped to 5.7% over the three months to the end of December, from 5.8%, as expected.Minutes for the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting will be due out later on, along with US housing-market data.Tesco names new chairman, CCH fallsSupermarket giant Tesco rose after revealing that it would be appointing Dixons Carphone's chairman John Allan as the replacement of current chair Richard Broadbent who announced his resignation last year. Allan will be leaving his position at Dixons Carphone and also plans to step down as a non-executive director at Royal Mail.Coca-Cola HBC, the Greece-based drinks bottler, enjoyed improved volumes and lower sugar and oil costs in the final few months of the year but full-year earnings were worse than analysts were expecting due to currency effects.Homebuilder Galliford Try impressed with strong revenue and profit growth in its first six half, which allowed management to hike the interim dividend by 47%.Engine maker Rolls-Royce was being pressured lower after JPMorgan Cazenove analysts downgraded their recommendation on the stock to 'underweight' and cut their target price from 840p to 800p.WH Smith was lower after being downgraded to 'equal weight' by Barclays Capital, while TSB was hit with a ratings cut by Jefferies to 'hold'. Market MoverstechMARK 3,130.44 +0.06%FTSE 100 6,900.77 +0.04%FTSE 250 17,014.13 +0.75%FTSE 100 - RisersAshtead Group (AHT) 1,114.00p +3.15%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,612.00p +2.63%WPP (WPP) 1,486.00p +2.41%CRH (CRH) 1,846.00p +1.93%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,448.00p +1.90%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,037.00p +1.87%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 453.10p +1.82%Aggreko (AGK) 1,676.00p +1.82%Barclays (BARC) 262.25p +1.82%Standard Chartered (STAN) 963.10p +1.80%FTSE 100 - FallersIntu Properties (INTU) 363.10p -3.53%Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,141.00p -3.22%Hammerson (HMSO) 669.50p -2.05%British Land Co (BLND) 814.00p -1.93%Royal Mail (RMG) 429.70p -1.81%United Utilities Group (UU.) 935.00p -1.48%Vodafone Group (VOD) 227.85p -1.47%Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,228.00p -1.44%Severn Trent (SVT) 2,000.00p -1.38%AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,491.00p -1.35%FTSE 250 - RisersAfren (AFR) 10.49p +27.15%Regus (RGU) 228.80p +6.37%Vesuvius (VSVS) 464.60p +4.31%Smith (DS) (SMDS) 345.50p +3.88%Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 321.00p +3.85%Vedanta Resources (VED) 572.00p +3.81%Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 576.50p +3.69%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 174.80p +3.68%Premier Oil (PMO) 186.70p +3.66%De La Rue (DLAR) 565.00p +3.39%FTSE 250 - FallersTelecom Plus (TEP) 1,136.00p -2.99%TSB Banking Group (TSB) 259.90p -2.48%WH Smith (SMWH) 1,280.00p -1.84%Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 310.60p -1.71%SEGRO (SGRO) 416.00p -1.42%Redefine International (RDI) 57.30p -1.21%Computacenter (CCC) 692.00p -1.14%Hunting (HTG) 506.00p -1.08%Lonmin (LMI) 163.70p -1.03%Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 2,237.00p -0.80%