London open: Markets await news from Greece

8th Mar 2012 08:34

- Greek debt-swap participation rate estimated at 60 percent.- Markets await policy decisions from BoE, ECB.- ARM rises after iPad launch, Morrison jumps on strong 2011.London's blue chip index continued its strong performance ahead of policy decisions from the Bank of England (BoE) and the European Central Bank (ECB) due later today. However, the main focus of the day will undoubtedly be on Greece, as the Eurozone waits to see how many private creditors have agreed to take part in the bond-swap deal.Europe is still awaiting a final decision on the Greek debt restructuring. Private investors have until later this evening to decide if they will accept a debt exchange in which they will be required to take a 53.5% nominal haircut, in an agreement that would save Athens about €106bn (£88bn).A Greek government official has already said that it is confident of achieving the 75% participation threshold, while another told Reuters this morning that "the pace of responses to the bond offer is good, the percentage of bondholders tendering voluntarily is very high." The latest estimate, according to Bloomberg, pins the participation rate at around 60%.Meanwhile, markets await the policy decision by the BoE due at midday. Not that many people are expecting the bank to do anything other than maintain the status quo, following the £50bn increase in asset purchases announced last month. Across the water, the European Central Bank will also be announcing its interest rate decision and it, too, is expected to keep its rate unchanged. Markets across Europe were making decent gains this morning, following on from a strong performance on Wall Street last night on the back of speculation of a new type of bond-buying programme by the Federal Reserve to boost economic growth.According to the Wall Street Journal, the central bank is considering printing money to acquire bonds, then borrowing the money back for short periods at low rates, effectively taking it out of circulation (sterilising). This move is thought to be an attempt to ease fears of quantitative easing fuelling inflation. ARM AND MORRISON PROVIDING A LIFTChip company ARM Holdings was rising strongly early on after US tech giant Apple, which uses its technology in its gadgets, last night unveiled the new version of its highly anticipated iPad, leader in the tablet market. As well, Morgan Stanley has upgraded the company's shares today, to overweight. Supermarket giant Morrison jumped as it beat both sales and profit expectations in 2011, after seeing a record number of customers in its stores. Turnover excluding VAT rose 7% from £16,749m to £17,663m in the 12 months ended January 29th, ahead of expectations of £17,570bn, helped by an 18% jump in fuel sales. Jefferies reiterated its buy rating on the stock this morning, saying Morrison is "delivering for shareholders, again", after raised its total dividend by 11%.Meanwhile, the miners were tracking metal prices higher with Kazakhmys, Vedanta and Antofagasta making gains. Xstrata was also in demand after agreeing to acquire the Sukunka hard coking coal deposit from Talisman Energy for $500m cash. "Based on our due diligence and technical analysis, Sukunka has the potential to be a high quality metallurgical coal mine," said Xstrata Coal's Chief Executive Peter Freyberg. Insurance firm Aviva rose strongly after beating all of its operating targets in 2011. Operating profit before tax, which eased 2% to £2.50bn from £2.55bn, was ahead of market expectations of £2.41bnOld Mutual was higher ahead of its results tomorrow. The company said this morning that the sale of its Nordic business has received approval from Swedish regulators; now it's up to the shareholders to sign off on the deal.Leading the downside on the Footsie were the defensive stocks, with utilities stocks among the worst performers. Centrica, SSE, Severn Trent and United Utilities fell moderately early on.FTSE 250: FENNER JUMPS ON STRONG FIRST HALFPolymers firm Fenner has reported a strong trading period for the six months ended February 29th 2012, with operating profit for the half year 'significantly' ahead of the comparable period last year.Premier Oil rose despite saying that its Bluebell exploration well on UK Block 15/24 in the Central North Sea will be plugged and abandoned after the logs were water wet.All segments of Spirax-Sarco Engineering were firing on all cylinders in 2011, as the peristaltic pumps specialist produced figures a shade ahead of market expectations. Shares headed higher after the group revealed that full-year revenue rose 10%.BCFTSE 100 - RisersBurberry Group (BRBY) 1,485.00p +3.34%ARM Holdings (ARM) 567.00p +3.18%IMI (IMI) 977.50p +2.73%Hammerson (HMSO) 400.20p +2.62%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 292.00p +2.53%Evraz (EVR) 400.70p +2.48%GKN (GKN) 211.50p +2.42%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,259.00p +2.36%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,444.50p +2.21%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,626.00p +2.20%FTSE 100 - FallersMan Group (EMG) 144.00p -1.44%Vodafone Group (VOD) 168.75p -0.74%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 618.50p -0.56%SSE (SSE) 1,288.00p -0.39%Centrica (CNA) 306.40p -0.39%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,835.00p -0.22%Unilever (ULVR) 2,034.00p -0.20%Sage Group (SGE) 296.90p -0.17%United Utilities Group (UU.) 614.50p -0.16%Schroders (SDR) 1,559.00p -0.13%FTSE 250 - RisersFenner (FENR) 496.00p +7.90%Perform Group (PER) 291.80p +7.24%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 643.00p +6.90%Supergroup (SGP) 551.00p +5.56%Inmarsat (ISAT) 481.80p +4.44%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 166.00p +4.01%International Personal Finance (IPF) 254.20p +3.97%Hunting (HTG) 834.00p +3.93%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 141.70p +3.43%Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 2,075.00p +3.23%FTSE 250 - FallersLogica (LOG) 87.55p -1.85%Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 254.10p -0.97%Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 116.10p -0.94%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 231.70p -0.77%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 552.50p -0.63%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 724.50p -0.62%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 32.44p -0.52%International Public Partnerships Ltd. (INPP) 119.20p -0.50%Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 161.20p -0.49%John Laing Infrastructure Fund Ltd (JLIF) 109.10p -0.37%