London midday: Stocks up as investors await news from Greece

8th Feb 2012 11:46

- Reckitt, miners and banks provide a lift on the FTSE 100.- Big movers on the FTSE 250 drag index into the red.- Markets await news from Greek meetings.Stocks pared gains by midday but were still trading in positive territory as investors awaited developments from Greece with leaders still grappling over terms of an agreement to secure a second bailout.Yet again the market expects Athens to get its act together and have its leaders finally bow down to the austerity measures imposed by the Troika (European Union, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund). At the same time, the agreement with private creditors lurks in the background. All of the above required so Greece can receive its second financing package worth €130bn. So many missed deadlines have made "today" a gutsy call for analysts, although most market participants are still betting on that "eventually". As has been the case for many months now, headlines shout that an agreement is "close", but for having heard the same thing 24 hours ago, does this truly mean that an accord is any closer? According to Greek TV Skai, today's meeting between the Greek Prime Minister and the leaders of the country´s main political parties will take place at 13:00.RECKITT IMPRESSES AS SHARES RISE 3%Cillit Bang maker Reckitt Benckiser was leading the Footsie higher at midday. The consumer products group said it exceeded its full year targets in 2011, as it announced a strategy for 'continued out-performance'. Net revenue in 2011 rose to £9.49bn from £8.45bn the year before and just a tad higher than market expectations of £9.45bn.Power generator International Power was a heavy faller despite seeing revenues and earnings rise 3% and 8% in the 2011. The company said its hook-up with French utility company GDF SUEZ Energy delivered synergies well ahead of target in 2011. Miners were generally on the rise tracking metals prices higher, with Kazakhmys, Rio Tinto and Xstrata among the best performers. Rio Tinto saw shares rise after committing a further $3.4bn to the expansion of its Pilbara iron ore operations in western Australia. "Today we are announcing another significant milestone in our drive towards a more than 50 per cent increase in the size of iron ore operations in Western Australia," said Rio's Iron Ore and Australia Chief Executive Sam Walsh. With what was a mixed bag of results for mining titan BHP Billiton, the market reaction was also mixed as shares traded broadly flat. There was something for both the bulls and the bears in BHP's interim results, with underlying pre-tax earnings ahead of expectations while the bottom line number was shy of what the market had been anticipating. Meanwhile, Russian precious metals group Polymetal International was also bucking the sector trend after terminating a joint venture as it bought out the remaining 50% stake owned by South Africa-based AngloGold Ashanti for $20m.Financials were in demand with Barclays, Man Group, Lloyds, Old Mutual and Schroders on the rise. FTSE 250 IN THE RED AS SUPERGROUP, HOMESERVE AND MISYS PLUMMETWhile the FTSE 100 was making ground, there were some big movers of the FTSE 250 who were dragging the second-tier index into the red. Shares in SuperGroup, owner of the Superdry brand, dropped nearly 18% after it said profit for the year will be towards the lower end of market expectations as it experienced a challenging last three weeks in January. "Following a solid Christmas trading period, which saw like-for-like retail sales of 9.3% in December, there has been a slowdown in the last three weeks of January," the group explained in a company statement. Emergency repair group Homeserve fell 10% after saying that its recent travails that are still preventing the group from restarting some marketing operations. This, along with falling customer numbers, means that the group will make 200 lay-offs from its telesales department. Meanwhile, financial software provider Misys tumbled 7% after saying that its Chief Executive Officer Mike Lawrie has been tempted away with an "offer of employment from a third party".BCFTSE 100 - RisersReckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,477.00p +2.81%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 36.01p +2.11%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,184.00p +2.07%Essar Energy (ESSR) 135.20p +1.88%Old Mutual (OML) 157.50p +1.88%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,940.50p +1.83%Amec (AMEC) 1,063.00p +1.53%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,012.00p +1.50%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,488.00p +1.50%Xstrata (XTA) 1,217.00p +1.42%FTSE 100 - FallersSage Group (SGE) 294.00p -3.23%International Power (IPR) 332.50p -2.98%Next (NXT) 2,706.00p -1.78%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,014.00p -1.76%ITV (ITV) 76.40p -1.36%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 776.00p -1.34%Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,167.00p -1.32%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,387.50p -1.32%CRH (CRH) 1,302.00p -1.29%Reed Elsevier (REL) 524.50p -1.22%FTSE 250 - RisersInmarsat (ISAT) 473.50p +8.30%Ocado Group (OCDO) 110.60p +4.93%Kesa Electricals (KESA) 73.20p +4.20%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 345.80p +4.16%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 544.50p +4.11%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,060.00p +3.55%Henderson Group (HGG) 125.30p +3.55%Perform Group (PER) 265.00p +3.11%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 20.75p +2.17%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 478.70p +1.87%FTSE 250 - FallersSupergroup (SGP) 575.00p -17.86%Homeserve (HSV) 248.10p -9.78%Misys (MSY) 303.10p -7.05%UK Commercial Property Trust (UKCM) 72.80p -3.89%Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) 444.80p -3.81%WH Smith (SMWH) 515.00p -3.10%Home Retail Group (HOME) 108.60p -2.95%IG Group Holdings (IGG) 478.60p -2.82%Diploma (DPLM) 388.90p -2.77%Bumi (BUMI) 750.00p -2.41%