Barclays Share News (BARC)

- Uncertainties surrounding Greek debt-swap participation.- Oil falls as EU restarts talks with Iran.- Polymetal tumbles after UBS downgrade.Global stock markets tanked on Tuesday on the back of speculation that the Greek debt-swap may not receive as many acceptances as hoped for. The miners were the main culprits for dragging the FTSE 100 down 109 points (or 1.9 percent) today, marking the third consecutive day of declines for London's blue chip index. The benchmark is now down some 2.8 percent on Thursday's close of 5,931. Europe is awaiting a final decision this week on the Greek debt restructuring. Private investors have a March 8th deadline to decide if they will accept a debt exchange in which they will be required to take a 53.5% haircut in an agreement that would save Athens about €106bn (£88bn). The Greek government is optimistic that the rate of participation in the bond-swap could reach between 75% and 80%, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal. However, this falls short of the 90% participation rate needed to avoid the trigger of collective action clauses (CACs).All Greek banks are set to participate while European lenders Generali and Societe Generale have also been reported to take part. The latter is thought to be significant news by some as French banks used to have the largest holdings of Greek debt. However, some observers, such as those at Zerohedge.com, say that there is now a second group of Greek bondholders who have decided to opt out (those with Swiss franc-denominated bonds). While they apparently only hold $708m of instruments, the numbers are mounting with another group of local law bondholders (organised by law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP) also reported to be against the idea - ZeroHedge.com says could be "potentially sufficient to derail the transaction." The Institute of International Finance (IIF) - the group representing Greece's private creditors - has said that a disorderly Greek default would leave Italy and Spain in need of additional aid, taking the total amount of liabilities over the one trillion euro mark, Reuters reported this morning. "There are some very important and damaging ramifications that would result from a disorderly default on Greek government debt...It is difficult to add all these contingent liabilities up with any degree of precision, although it is hard to see how they would not exceed one trillion euros," the IIF said in a document obtained by the news agency which was dated February 18th.In other news, oil prices took a tumble after the European Union announced that it is going to recommence talks with Iran over its nuclear programme. Brent futures on the InterContinental Europe Exchange were down 1.24% at $122.31 before the close in London.ECONOMIC DATA The value of UK retail sales fell by 0.3% on a like-for-like basis in February versus a year ago. On a total basis however - taking into account volumes - sales grew by 2.3%, above the 1.1% rate of growth seen in the same month of 2011, the BRC-KPMG sales monitor says. Meanwhile, UK house prices fell by 0.5% month-on-month (-1.9% year-on-year) during the month of February, to £160,118, according to the latest data from Halifax. The consensus estimate was for a rise of 0.3% month-on-month (-1.6% year-on-year). Elsewhere, Eurostat confirmed that the Eurozone economy contracted by 0.3% in the fourth quarter (compared with the third), matching the preliminary figures released a couple of weeks ago. For 2011 as a whole, the euro area economy expanded by 1.4%, compared to the 1.9% growth in 2010. UBS SCARES POLYMETAL INVESTORS AWAY AFTER DOWNGRADERussian mining giant Polymetal International dropped over 6% today after UBS downgraded its rating on the stock from buy to neutral and slashed its target price by over a fifth. "We fine-tune our production forecasts and incorporate higher cash cost expectations, resulting in a significant earnings cut. We believe that Polymetal, like its peers, will not be able to resist cash cost growth in 2H11E and going forward, especially given the launch/ramp-up of complex new projects in 2012," the Swiss broker said. Miners on the whole were performing badly with sector giants Evraz, Eurasian Natural Resources Corp (ENRC), Antofagasta and Vedanta Resources all losing at least 4% each. The sell-off can be partly attributed to yesterday's news that China expects its economy to grow by 7.5% in 2012 - set to be the first year of sub-8% growth in eight years. Macroeconomic concerns were also weighing on the share price of the banks, with Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds finishing the day with hefty losses.Silver and gold miner Fresnillo was performing relatively well, falling only slightly into the red, after seeing sales rise by more than a half in 2011, helped by a surge in metals prices and an increase in production. Revenue in the 12 months ended December 31st increased by 55.6% from $1,409.6m to $2,192.7m. Meggitt, the engineering company focused on the aerospace, defence and energy markets, was a heavy faller despite seeing strong growth across all of its markets in 2011. Revenue in 2011 rose by a quarter to £1,455.3m from £1,162.0m in 2010, and roughly in line with market expectations of £1,458.7m. "In short, the 2011 result looks fine, but we harbour some reservations about the long-term outlook," said analysts at Jefferies. FTSE 250: EXILLON, CENTAMIN DROP 9% EACHOil producer Exillon Energy dropped despite reporting a month-on-month increase in production at its assets in the oil-rich regions of Timan-Pechora in Russia and West Siberia. Gold miner Centamin took a hit after saying that labour unrest has brought operations at its Sukari mine to a standstill. In a statement released this morning Centamin said: "...the illegal unrest and work stoppage commenced as a result of a breakdown in on-going discussions involving general salary increases and other benefits with some members of the Sukari workforce." Cape, the services firm focused on the commodities sector, jumped into the top spot after reporting record revenues in its first year on the FTSE 250. BCFTSE 100 - RisersHargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 459.10p +3.10%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 683.50p +0.07%FTSE 100 - FallersPolymetal International (POLY) 951.50p -6.35%Evraz (EVR) 380.00p -6.22%Barclays (BARC) 238.90p -5.54%Essar Energy (ESSR) 101.60p -5.14%ICAP (IAP) 380.60p -5.06%Wolseley (WOS) 2,301.00p -5.00%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 641.50p -4.96%Meggitt (MGGT) 380.50p -4.92%Aviva (AV.) 350.20p -4.68%Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,262.00p -4.64%FTSE 250 - RisersCape (CIU) 445.30p +3.70%Laird (LRD) 184.60p +2.73%COLT Group SA (COLT) 101.50p +1.81%Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 115.50p +1.67%BH Global Ltd. USD Shares (BHGU) 11.9 +1.28%Misys (MSY) 338.50p +1.04%Spirent Communications (SPT) 151.40p +0.93%Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 321.20p +0.91%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,960.00p +0.65%Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 130.60p +0.46%FTSE 250 - FallersExillon Energy (EXI) 201.40p -9.36%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 79.20p -8.44%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 50.65p -7.66%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 705.50p -7.60%Michael Page International (MPI) 443.00p -7.52%Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) 55.50p -7.50%Inmarsat (ISAT) 433.20p -7.46%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 31.21p -6.72%Afren (AFR) 125.60p -5.92%Carpetright (CPR) 600.00p -5.36%