- Eyes turn to Eurogroup meeting- Greece approves 2013 budget- Japanese GDP decline worse than fearedConcerns about Greece and a worse-than-expected contraction in Japan meant that it was a rather subdued day on the UK stock market on Monday, with the FTSE 100 broadly unchanged by the close."European markets have struggled for direction today, not surprising given the backdrop of denial and delay in dealing with the problems of Greece's financial situation, ahead of today's latest EU finance ministers meeting, where expectations are receding that there will be any clarity on what the next steps will be in this latest stage of the crisis," said market analyst Michael Hewson from CMC Markets.Greece's parliament put the rubber stamp on its budget for 2013 late Sunday night with a wide margin as 167 deputies approved the bill, 128 voted against, four voted 'present' and one member was absent. Passage of the budget was a requirement for Athens to get the green light on the next tranche of aid. However, the Troika is not expected to be able to give the final seal of approval necessary in time for today's meeting of Eurozone finance ministers. Any agreement on Greece will have to pass through the Bundestag, Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is reported to have said this afternoon.Japan's economy contracted at an annualised rate of 3.5% in the third quarter, only slightly worse than the 3.4% decline expected by analysts. Nevertheless, the decline in capital expenditures was considerably larger than what was forecast. However, over the weekend investors learned that Chinese exports grew at an 11.6% month-on-month pace in October, well ahead of the 10% that had been foreseen. In other news, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that the US will surpass Saudi Arabia's and Russia's level of oil production by around 2020, something which was thought unthinkable by many even just a year ago. Based on current forecasts, the US will pump 11.1m barrels of oil a day (b/d) in 2020 and 10.9m b/d in 2025, the IEA said. America's oil production is currently running at 6.7m b/d.FTSE 100: Financials make gainsCar insurance giant Admiral was extending gains made Friday when Bank of America hiked its rating on the stock by two notches from 'underperform' to 'buy'. UBS has raised its target price for UK banking group Lloyds from 44p to 46p, saying that the bank's third-quarter results showed "solid progress and improving momentum", providing a lift to the shares this morning. The broker maintained its 'neutral' stance though. Meanwhile, Royal Bank of Scotland was being boosted after Credit Suisse also raised its target price from 190p to 220p. Nevertheless, the broker retained its 'underperform' rating on the stock, saying that it still expects "below-industry-average profitability". Amec was among today's worst performers possible as a result of the negative news coverage surrounding the company's loss of its second top executive within a month. Security giant G4S was lower after Morgan Stanley downgraded its rating on the stock to 'equal weight' and cut its target price from 320p to 280p. This morning's Telegraph called attention to the fact that G4S is waiting to hear whether it will be reappointed on a contract to provide electronic tagging of offenders services across England and Wales worth £50m of annual revenue to the company. Mining stocks were broadly lower after the worse-than-expected contraction in Japan: Anglo American, Xstrata and Glencore were all registering losses. Bucking the trend was Polymetal after extending the life-of-mine projections for its Khakanja and Omolon mines in Russia by two years after releasing the first set of ore reserves estimates for its Tsokol, Ozerny, Avlayakan, and Dalniy deposits. Advertising agency WPP was up following encouraging news from French rival Publicis, which reported that advertising demand improved in October. Drugs giant AstraZeneca declined despite announcing a clutch of positive test results relating to its naloxegol product, a treatment for opioid-induced constipation (OIC). Hotels group InterContinental gained after Exane BNP Paribas upgraded its recommendation to 'outperform' and raised its target price from 1,630p to 1,900p. FTSE 250: Cobham leads the fallers on 2013 guidanceDefence technology supplier Cobham tanked after predicting a drop in revenues in 2013 as it is hit by the fall in US defence spending. The firm also said that a change in its sales mix and new investments would mean lower operating margins next year than are expected in 2012.Platinum miner Lonmin was a high riser, with the stock continuing to show signs of recovery. In recent months the company's operations, situated in the Bushveld Complex in South Africa, have been affected by the strikes and the killing of 34 miners on August 16th at Marikana. Today, the shares were given a lift by Deutsche Bank which raised its target price from 490p to 515p, keeps its 'hold' rating.Nickel miner Talvivaara experienced a sell-off as it continues to see volatile swings after its operations in Finland were affected by an "unfortunate gypsum pond leakage" that started on November 4th. The company announced late Friday that it has launched an investigation into the leak.Invensys shares fell after UBS downgraded to 'neutral' and cut its target price from 280p to 255p. FTSE 100 - RisersAdmiral Group (ADM) 1,092.00p +3.61%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 45.13p +3.50%Polymetal International (POLY) 1,149.00p +3.14%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,247.00p +2.47%Barclays (BARC) 234.95p +2.09%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 274.50p +1.63%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,103.00p +1.47%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,579.00p +1.41%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 757.00p +1.34%ITV (ITV) 86.80p +1.17%FTSE 100 - FallersAnglo American (AAL) 1,827.50p -2.06%G4S (GFS) 248.70p -1.85%Amec (AMEC) 1,030.00p -1.81%BG Group (BG.) 1,040.50p -1.56%Xstrata (XTA) 956.00p -1.47%Meggitt (MGGT) 366.20p -1.45%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,950.00p -1.35%IMI (IMI) 940.00p -0.95%Glencore International (GLEN) 336.25p -0.94%Sage Group (SGE) 304.60p -0.91%FTSE 250 - RisersLonmin (LMI) 483.20p +6.13%COLT Group SA (COLT) 102.10p +3.55%ITE Group (ITE) 194.00p +3.47%Sports Direct International (SPD) 396.90p +2.90%Raven Russia Ltd (RUS) 67.50p +2.27%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 24.80p +2.23%Interserve (IRV) 375.10p +2.18%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 38.20p +2.06%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 257.80p +1.90%Afren (AFR) 139.60p +1.75%FTSE 250 - FallersCobham (COB) 190.60p -9.67%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 95.75p -7.49%Invensys (ISYS) 221.30p -5.71%Perform Group (PER) 396.70p -5.59%Chemring Group (CHG) 232.70p -4.44%Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 1,607.00p -4.06%Bumi (BUMI) 266.30p -3.83%Anite (AIE) 132.00p -3.51%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 467.00p -3.31%Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,050.00p -3.23%BC
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