Barclays Share News (BARC)

-Banks, miners weigh on Footsie.-Markets digest sovereign downgrades from Moody's.-Investors await Eurogroup meeting tomorrow.UK stocks finished in the red on Tuesday as concerns over the state of the Eurozone continued to weigh on sentiment. Trade was volatile as mid-morning gains on the back of German confidence data were pared late on following some weaker-than-expected retail sales data Stateside this afternoon. Meanwhile, investors were digesting a mass downgrade of Eurozone nations by Moody's and looking ahead to the crucial Eurogroup meeting tomorrow.Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service last night downgraded six European sovereigns, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain, "in order to reflect their susceptibility to the growing financial and macroeconomic risks emanating from the euro area crisis and how these risks exacerbate the affected countries' own specific challenges," Moody's said. Moody's also revised its outlook on the Aaa ratings of the UK, Austria and France to negative. Meanwhile, the German ZEW investor sentiment survey came in well ahead of expectations, sending bourses across Europe into positive territory. The ZEW expectations index increased by 27 points to 5.4 points in February, up from -21.6 last month, smashing forecasts of a -11.6 reading. This is the first time the index has been in positive territory since May 2011EU finance ministers are set to meet tomorrow for the 'showdown' stage in the Greek saga. "The question facing ministers is over whether to turn a blind eye to the country's inability to meet its austerity commitments and the likelihood that it may not keep its latest promises either with an election coming; and whether to give them bailout money anyway or not," according to Colin Cieszynski, a market analyst at CMC Markets.In domestic news, the consumer price index (CPI) inflation fell to 3.6% in January, according to Office for National Statistics, matching forecasts. The fall in the year-on-year rate of change in the CPI follows that seen last month, when it retreated to a year-on-year rate of 4.2%, from 4.8% the month before. The two month drop in prices is thus the largest since November 2008. BANKS, MINERS SOLD OFF AFTER MOODY'SOn the equity front, banks and miners wide sold off as investors dumped riskier assets on the back of last night's sovereign downgrades. Cieszynski suggests that following Moody's move, "the usual pattern from here would be to see a round of bank downgrades in the affected countries in a few weeks."Royal Bank of Scotland led the decline, falling 5%, while Lloyds was down nearly 3%. Barclays was falling by a lesser 0.9% after upgrades from both Exane BNP Paribas and Shore Capital eased the selling pressure.The mass downgrade of Eurozone nations pushed the euro lower against the dollar today, making greenback-denominated commodities such as copper more expensive. The dollar was also strengthening against the Japanese yen after the Bank of Japan boosted its asset-purchase programme. As such, Rio Tinto, Vedanta Resources, Xstrata, Anglo American and Kazakhmys were among the worst performers.Distribution and outsourcing firm Bunzl was the top of the risers list after JP Morgan upped its recommendation from neutral to overweight on valuation grounds. "We believe that the recent relative underperformance could be a good entry point ahead of FY results on 27 February," the US broker said. Outsourcing specialist Capita was also on the rise having been selected as the recommended supplier for the Army's Recruiting Partnering Project (RPP). Defence groups BAE Systems and Meggitt were also in demand.InterContinental Hotels was falling despite increasing the full year dividend by 15% after it continued to outperform the hotel industry in key markets such as the US and Greater China in 2011. The firm said it is increasingly looking to emerging markets to generate profit growth as things start to look a bit sticky in Europe. Shares of British Land were suffering after Credit Suisse downgraded its rating on the property owner from outperform to neutral, saying that it expects "the shares to lack positive momentum for the next few quarters". MISYS RISES AS THIRD PARTIES SHOW INTERESTShares in software firm Misys were up over 6% on the back of speculation that the firm could abandon a merger with Switzerland-based peer Temenos if other offers prove more attractive to shareholders. According to Bloomberg, which cites two unnamed people close to the matter, Misys has attracted interest from buyout firms but has not yet received firm offers. However, if these other parties are indeed interested, they'd better be quick as the company gave March 6th as the deadline for an alternative offer.Paper and packaging group Mondi was also a high riser after saying underlying profit for the fourth quarter of 2011 is expected to be on a par with the corresponding quarter of 2010. Carpetright headed higher on speculation founder of the company Lord Harris is considering taking the UK floorcoverings retailer private at a price of 700p per share, according to The Telegraph.BCMarket MoverstechMARK 2,015.68 +0.21%FTSE 100 5,899.87 -0.10%FTSE 250 11,245.69 -0.27%FTSE 100 - RisersBunzl (BNZL) 910.50p +3.70%BAE Systems (BA.) 329.40p +2.94%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,423.00p +2.15%Capita (CPI) 648.00p +2.13%Meggitt (MGGT) 372.30p +2.00%SSE (SSE) 1,281.00p +1.67%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,306.00p +1.59%Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,230.00p +1.59%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,361.50p +1.53%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,331.50p +1.52%FTSE 100 - FallersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 26.65p -5.16%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,727.50p -3.07%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 34.28p -2.86%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,251.00p -2.42%Xstrata (XTA) 1,184.00p -2.39%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,372.00p -2.14%Schroders (SDR) 1,568.00p -2.12%Aviva (AV.) 361.60p -1.74%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,585.50p -1.67%Tesco (TSCO) 314.15p -1.64%FTSE 250 - RisersPerform Group (PER) 276.80p +7.08%Misys (MSY) 308.40p +6.23%Mondi (MNDI) 566.00p +5.60%Genus (GNS) 1,117.00p +4.98%Carpetright (CPR) 604.00p +4.50%Telecity Group (TCY) 676.00p +4.24%Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) 57.75p +4.05%Catlin Group Ltd. (CGL) 440.40p +3.14%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 858.50p +2.69%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 710.50p +2.23%FTSE 250 - FallersCable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 26.65p -6.62%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 139.50p -6.56%Rank Group (RNK) 129.50p -6.16%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,817.00p -5.47%Ocado Group (OCDO) 100.00p -4.21%Logica (LOG) 80.30p -4.18%Exillon Energy (EXI) 247.30p -4.00%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 14.19p -3.93%Rotork (ROR) 1,902.00p -3.65%Home Retail Group (HOME) 105.40p -3.57%