London midday: Stocks retreat, Unilever drops after downgrade

11th Jan 2012 11:49

After trading within a narrow 20-point range for most of the morning, it seems if the Footsie has found its direction, dropping around 40 points by midday, with Eurozone concerns once again in the spotlight.Euro-area gross domestic product growth slowed to 0.1% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter of 2011, from 0.2% in the second quarter. This is the slowest pace of growth since the second quarter of 2009. "Looking ahead, we expect that the significant deterioration in business surveys will take its toll on real activity data, and particularly on the industrial sector," said analyst Francois Cabau from Barclays Capital.Meanwhile, Germany has sold €3.15bn of five-year bonds today at a yield of 0.9%, according to reports. The bid-to-cover ratio was 2.8.In domestic news, overall UK shop price inflation slowed to 1.7% in December, from 2.0% in November, according to the latest data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Meanwhile, the UK trade deficit with non-EU countries increased to £5.3bn during the month of November, according to the latest data out this morning from HM Revenue&Customs.UNILEVER DROPS AFTER DOWNGRADEIn company movements, consumer goods firm Unilever was among the worst performers after Morgan Stanley downgraded its rating from overweight to equalweight, citing a limited scope for earnings upgrades this year.Meanwhile, banking stocks continue to climb with RBS leading the way. The lender's Irish unit is preparing its second round of job cuts in four years as part of an effort to save about €50m ($63.9m), according to two people with knowledge of the plan, Bloomberg News reports. Lloyds and Barclays were also in demand.Oil peers Shell, Petrofac and BG were out of favour, tracking crude prices lower. BG was also in the news on reports that it has received six to seven preliminary bids for its 65% stake in India's Gujarat Gas in a deal worth $900mRETAILERS IN FOCUSSupermarket chain Sainsbury's upbeat Christmas trading update was met with praise from the markets early on but the stock fell into the red by lunchtime. Total sales for the 14 weeks to January 7th were up 7.0% from a year earlier, or up 4.5% with fuel sales excluded. Panmure Gordon kept its hold rating on the stock today, saying that the shares "look reasonable value at these levels, given the company's cyclical stability and decent yield." It seems the markets were underwhelmed by the cheery festive trading statements with bakery chain Greggs also falling into the red despite seeing a like-for-like (LFL) sales growth of 5.1% in the five weeks to January 7th. Total sales grew by 10.8% for the period.SuperGroup, the owner of the fast-growing Superdry clothing brand, saw total sales increase 22% (to £79m) between the end of October and the beginning of January, compared to the same period of 2010. However, wholesale problems have continued to weigh on the stock with broker Collins Stewart saying that "confidence in forecasts remains low".SMALL CAP MOVERSHaiKe, the AIM-listed, China-based chemical company dropped 10% this morning on news that its profitability for 2011 will be "behind market expectations".Pest control firm TyraTech tumbled over 20% after it revealed that it has to secure additional funding as a result of unexpected order problems with its US partner.Plaza Centers shot ahead after it announced that it is to sell 47 of its US based shopping centres in a deal valued at $1.428bn.Caspian Holdings, the oil and metals explorer, headed north on news of quick progress at its tungsten mining site in the Extremadura region of southwest Spain.BCFTSE 100 - RisersSchroders (SDR) 1,316.00p +3.54%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 21.75p +2.93%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,066.00p +2.80%Carnival (CCL) 2,251.00p +2.64%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 28.01p +2.56%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 109.60p +2.43%Capita (CPI) 664.50p +2.39%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,768.00p +2.08%Cairn Energy (CNE) 275.40p +1.85%Aviva (AV.) 312.30p +1.73%FTSE 100 - FallersSSE (SSE) 1,257.00p -3.38%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,331.50p -2.94%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,525.00p -2.87%Unilever (ULVR) 2,090.00p -2.84%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,419.50p -2.79%BG Group (BG.) 1,439.50p -2.60%Aggreko (AGK) 2,068.00p -2.59%Amec (AMEC) 970.50p -2.17%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 299.90p -1.96%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,206.00p -1.95%FTSE 250 - RisersMichael Page International (MPI) 363.60p +5.33%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 467.20p +4.82%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 305.90p +4.65%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 106.40p +4.01%Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 166.00p +3.75%Perform Group (PER) 219.90p +3.73%Fenner (FENR) 423.90p +3.29%Henderson Group (HGG) 104.00p +3.07%SIG (SHI) 91.30p +2.99%Ocado Group (OCDO) 55.90p +2.66%FTSE 250 - FallersBrown (N.) Group (BWNG) 230.50p -4.75%Carpetright (CPR) 521.00p -3.07%DS Smith (SMDS) 199.90p -2.30%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 673.50p -2.25%Berendsen (BRSN) 435.50p -2.00%Supergroup (SGP) 540.00p -2.00%Derwent London (DLN) 1,529.00p -1.99%Sports Direct International (SPD) 229.50p -1.76%Grainger (GRI) 102.20p -1.73%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 452.20p -1.72%