London open: Eurozone worries hold back stocks

26th Mar 2012 08:30

- European markets cautious, Spanish index drops - Germany may back an increased firewall- Abderdeen advances after pre-close trading updateStocks edged higher on Monday morning, but gains were only moderate as concerns over Europe weighed on sentiment.The STOXX Europe 600 Index lost a total of 2.5% last week as poor manufacturing data from both China and Europe disappointed. This morning, most major benchmarks across the continent were broadly lower ahead of a confidence survey from Germany. Spain's Ibex 35 index, however, dropped nearly 2% after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's People's Party did not secure a majority in the Andalucia regional election with just a few days to go before he presents his 2012 budget.Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said at the weekend: "[Spain] certainly made profound reform of the labour market but it did not pay the same attention to public finances. This is causing us big concern because their yields are rising and it wouldn't take much to recreate trends that could spread to us through contagion."Germany is poised to bow to international pressure and allow a temporary increase in the Eurozone's financial firewall this week, to prevent the crisis in the region's periphery from spreading to other member states, The Financial Times has reported. Officials in Berlin signalled on Sunday that the government would allow funds to be boosted as a way of calming financial market pressures. ABERDEEN LEADS THE RISEFund manager Aberdeen Asset Management rose strongly after seeing investors continue to return to equity markets in 2012. Assets under management at the end of February stood at £184.4bn, up from £173.9bn at the end of 2011. Of the £10.5bn increase, £1.4bn was accounted for by net new business, with equities products seeing net inflows of £2.5bn, compensating for net outflows in other parts of the business. BP was higher after the Sunday Times said that the oil giant has begun auctioning off £2bn-worth of North Sea assets.Meanwhile, airline giant IAG fell on the back of rumours that it could make a bid for American Airlines. Pharma titan AstraZeneca was under the weather after a US court dismissed its request for an injunction barring the FDA from releasing generic versions of its quetiapine drug onto the market. Sector peer GlaxoSmithKline was also lower.BG Group said its drilling campaign offshore Tanzania has made its fourth discovery of gas, bringing total recoverable resources up to seven trillion cubic feet (TCF). Shares in BG rose over 1% early on, while Ophir Energy, which owns a 40% interest in the project, surged by 10% on the FTSE 250.FTSE 250: EASYJET FLYING HIGHIn second place on the risers list - following Ophir (mentioned above) - was budget airline easyJet which was up 7% after saying that its financial performance in the first half of the year would exceed guidance it gave in January. The company said improvements in revenue management combined with marketing and website initiatives had enabled easyJet to take advantage of weaker competitors leaving the market.Cable & Wireless Worldwide was in demand after the Sunday Telegraph reported that potential bidders Vodafone and Tata Communications are looking to extend a March 29th deadline for a takeover offer.Shares in specialised technical products and services provider Diploma rose strongly after a trading update reported that first-half revenues will be 12% ahead of last year's and pre-tax profits would be ahead of current market consensus.BCFTSE 100 - RisersAberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 255.80p +2.36%Evraz (EVR) 395.30p +1.65%International Power (IPR) 378.70p +1.58%Prudential (PRU) 795.00p +1.53%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,735.00p +1.50%Wolseley (WOS) 2,500.00p +1.46%Barclays (BARC) 247.75p +1.33%Diageo (DGE) 1,529.50p +1.29%Xstrata (XTA) 1,116.50p +1.00%BG Group (BG.) 1,506.00p +0.94%FTSE 100 - FallersCRH (CRH) 1,307.00p -0.91%Polymetal International (POLY) 954.00p -0.68%ICAP (IAP) 415.30p -0.60%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,129.00p -0.28%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,414.50p -0.28%Pearson (PSON) 1,216.00p -0.25%AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,833.00p -0.25%BT Group (BT.A) 231.60p -0.22%Whitbread (WTB) 1,758.00p -0.17%Experian (EXPN) 988.50p -0.15%FTSE 250 - RisersOphir Energy (OPHR) 442.00p +9.95%easyJet (EZJ) 494.00p +7.07%Perform Group (PER) 324.90p +6.52%Computacenter (CCC) 436.00p +4.23%Diploma (DPLM) 422.80p +3.70%Ruspetro (RPO) 195.20p +2.90%Essar Energy (ESSR) 158.20p +2.86%TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares (TRYS) 71.95p +2.79%Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) 456.20p +1.99%PayPoint (PAY) 616.50p +1.99%FTSE 250 - FallersPetra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 172.90p -1.59%Premier Oil (PMO) 406.70p -1.43%Amlin (AML) 336.60p -1.20%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 556.00p -0.71%Informa (INF) 439.70p -0.66%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 708.50p -0.56%Redrow (RDW) 128.40p -0.47%JPMorgan Indian Inv Trust (JII) 361.30p -0.47%Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) 58.25p -0.43%JPMorgan American Inv Trust (JAM) 946.50p -0.32%