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LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are flat to higher Thursday mid-morning, as investors await the outcome of Greek debt negotiations, with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reportedly having been given a late-morning deadline to provide a new proposal.
On the London Stock Exchange, Tesco is amongst the blue-chip gainers after being reported to have a slew of bidders for its South Korean business, while car insurer Admiral is down after being downgraded by Citigroup to Sell from Neutral.
The FTSE 100 is up 0.1% at 6,849.35, while the FTSE 250 is flat at 17,925.30 and the AIM All-Share is up 0.3% at 773.31.
European major indices are mixed, with the CAC 40 in Paris down 0.2% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt up 0.1%.
Greece and its debt problems continue to be the main driver for equity markets in Europe and the US. The Greek government and the country's international creditors continue marathon talks Thursday on how to avoid a bankruptcy in the Mediterranean-country, just hours before an European Council summit meant to bookend the crisis.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is meeting Thursday morning in Brussels with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, ahead of another eurogroup meeting at 1400 BST, before the European Council summit scheduled for 1600 BST.
"It is...now the final phase. Either there will be a deal or there will be nothing today," Nikos Filis, a senior official from Greece's ruling SYRIZA party, told the broadcaster MEGA.
Reuters reported Thursday that Greece's creditors gave the Greek government until 1000 BST to produce "a new, workable proposal", citing an eurozone official. The news agency reported that the official source said that if Greece does not deliver, its creditors will submit their own proposal to the Eurogroup at 1400 BST.
Greece is running out of money after having struggled for months to strike a deal with its creditors on economic reforms, needed to unlock EUR7.2 billion in aid remaining in the country's international bailout. The negotiations are now down to the wire, with the European part of the bailout package due to expire on Tuesday - the same day Greece owes a debt repayment of EUR1.6 billion to the IMF.
Societe Generale analyst Kit Juckes says Greek debt talks stalled as the IMF pushes for less reliance on tax increases and a greater focus on pension reform. "Markets are in ?wait and see' mode," he writes. "The standard market assumption is, still, that a last-minute slightly-tarnished solution can be found. Deadlines aren't quite as firm as they looked and even if takes a bit longer, they'll muddle through."
Outside Greece, German consumer confidence is set to fall in July as unresolved debt crisis in Greece weigh on the economic outlook. Nonetheless, it remains at an elevated level as income expectations reached a new post-reunification record. The forward-looking consumer sentiment index dropped to 10.1 in July from 10.2 in June, survey data from market research group GfK showed Thursday. The score was expected to remain at 10.2.
In London, private equity houses Affinity Equity Partners, Carlyle Group and CVC Capital Partners are understood to be among the preliminary bidders for Tesco's South Korean business, Reuters reported. The news agency, citing a report in the Korea Economic Daily, said MBK Partners, Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area, TPG and snack maker Orion Corp also are involved in the bidding. The South Korean arm of the UK supermarket chain is expected to fetch around USD6 billion in the sale.
"Any sale of the South Korean unit, said to be worth around USD5 billion, should help temper the large debt holdings of the firm," says London Capital Group head analyst Brenda Kelly. "Tesco shares have bounced back over 40% since hitting an all-time low in December but still trade at half the value seen back late 2007."
Tesco is amongst the best performers in the FTSE 100, up 1.1%.
Capita is up 0.8% at 1,271 pence after Jefferies raised its price target to 1,445p from 1,300p.
Meanwhile, the newly-appointed chief executive of emerging markets-focused bank Standard Chartered is planning to overhaul its structure in order to shift capital and power to new regional hubs amid a push to turnaround the bank's performance and to meet new regulatory demands, the Financial Times reported Tuesday. Bill Winters, who took over in May, is understood to be set to simplify and streamline the bank's operations, the FT said, citing people familiar with the situation.
Shares in Standard Chartered are down 0.6%.
UK blue-chips Experian, Compass Group and United Utilities Group are joined Thursday by mid-caps JD Sports Fashion, Mercantile Investment Trust, Electrocomponents, MITIE Group, TR Property Investment Trust and Paypoint, amongst others, in going ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payout.
Petrofac is leading the FTSE 250, up 5.3%, after Nomura upgraded it to Buy from Neutral. DS Smith shares are right behind, up 2.8%, after saying that its pretax profit rose in its financial year to the end of March as it managed to bring down its cost of sales sufficiently to offset lower revenue and said it has struck a EUR190 million deal to acquire a new corrugated packaging operation in Spain.
In the economic calendar Thursday, the UK Confederation of British Industry's distributive trades survey for June released at 1100 BST.
In the afternoon, US jobs data and personal consumption data are scheduled to be published at 1330 BST, while Markit Economics releases its US composite and services purchasing managers' index data for June at 1445 BST. US Energy Information Administration gas storage change information is due at 1530 BST, with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's quarterly survey of manufacturing activity scheduled shortly after at 1600 BST.
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
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