London close: Footsie battered again

Footsie finished not far off its low for the day after a lunch-time rally fizzled out. With speculation rife in Spain that a ban on short-selling stocks might be reintroduced, holders of stock in UK banks Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays could be forgiven that might not be such a bad idea for the UK to adopt. The banks got a fearful hammering on continued worries over the future of the Eurozone and as the credit agencies weigh in with more ratings cuts.Ratings agency Fitch cut Greece's rating on Thursday to 'CCC' from 'B-' in order to reflect the heightened risk that the country may not be able to sustain its membership in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Fitch added that should the new election scheduled for June 17th fail to produce a government that is committed to the EU/IMF bailout agreement then Greece's exit from the Eurozone would be "probable".Meanwhile, as expected, rival debt ratings agency Moody's has downgraded its ratings on 16 Spanish banks plus Santander's British division, Santander UK.Miners were under a cloud after Goldman Sachs lowered its forecast for second quarter growth in China's gross domestic product (GDP) to 7.9% from 8.5% previously. The US investment bank has also pared its full year forecast for Chinese GDP growth to 8.1% from 8.6%.Having said that, Fresnillo, Antofagasta and Polymetal, all of which have gold mines, defied the trend, as the price of precious metals were driven higher by nervous investors. The June futures contract for gold was trading $17.60 higher at $1,592.50 an ounce at the end of the morning session in New York, while the most commonly traded contract for silver was up 70 cents at $28.725 an ounce.Fashion chain Burberry, which counts China as a major customer, was also hit by the change in the Goldman Sachs forecast. The retailer and wholesaler is set to release full year results next week.LeadersIn the mid-tier, revenue and profits at bourse operator London Stock Exchange came in ahead of expectations, with the group boasting of strong performances across all four of its business divisions.Bus and train group FirstGroup was wanted ahead of results next Wednesday. Broker Charles Stanley reiterated its "hold" recommendation, as it reckons the price is unlikely to pick up before a rights issue or a change in dividend policy, or both. The earliest that can happen, in Charles Stanley's view, is November 2013.Sector peer Stagecoach also made progress after it snapped up some US assets from bankruptcy candidate Coach America.Shares in PV Crystalox Solar, a solar wafers supplier, rocketed after the firm reached a cash settlement relating to a terminated wafer supply contract that exceeded its market cap.LaggardsTechnical issues threw a spanner into the works resulting in production declining quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2012 at Heritage Oil, but that did not stop the group celebrating a successful test drilling in Kurdistan. The independent upstream exploration and production company said the Miran West-3 well in Kurdistan was successfully tested and is now being suspended pending completion as a production well.It might be best not to mention the UK drought to SIG, the building products distributor, which has seen sales in the group's roofing business disrupted by heavy rains this year.Meanwhile, "wet" sales have gone ex-growth in recent weeks at pubs operator Mitchells & Butlers (M&B), but fortunately food sales have picked up the slack. Like-for-like sales were up 2.7% in the 28 weeks to April 7th, with food sales up 3.4% and drink sales up 2.2%, but in the final 11 weeks of that period drink sales were down 0.8% in a year earlier.Panmure Gordon responded to the interim update from M&B by trimming its full year forecast for profit before tax to £169m (30.9p earnings per share) and consequently reduced its price target from 240p to 225p, while maintaining a "sell" recommendation.Hansteen Holdings, the UK and Europe focused real estate investment trust (REIT), warned it faces currency headwinds as the debt crisis weakens the euro. The firm says occupational demand in Germany is "robust", and in the UK it is "stable but competitive" but in Benelux "the market continues to be difficult."Other marketsWith equities once again baling out of equities, gilt prices tended firmer. The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt hardened to 1.82%, up from 1.81% the day before. Gilt yields move inversely to prices.Sterling held its own against the greenback at around the $1.5790 level. FTSE 100 - RisersPolymetal International (POLY) 799.00p +2.83%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,358.00p +2.11%CRH (CRH) 1,104.00p +2.03%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 271.20p +1.01%Centrica (CNA) 315.00p +0.99%BG Group (BG.) 1,245.50p +0.97%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,035.00p +0.88%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,894.00p +0.80%BT Group (BT.A) 204.00p +0.74%Sage Group (SGE) 249.30p +0.56%FTSE 100 - FallersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 25.95p -6.15%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 19.99p -5.08%Xstrata (XTA) 914.70p -4.34%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,373.00p -4.19%Man Group (EMG) 75.30p -4.14%ITV (ITV) 78.85p -3.72%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 241.10p -3.68%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 457.90p -3.38%Schroders (SDR) 1,174.00p -3.29%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 975.00p -3.27%FTSE 250 - RisersKesa Electricals (KESA) 48.50p +3.72%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 221.90p +3.50%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 145.10p +3.35%FirstGroup (FGP) 200.80p +3.29%Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,131.00p +3.01%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 630.00p +2.86%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 992.00p +2.85%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 34.50p +2.53%Cape (CIU) 322.10p +2.48%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 43.50p +2.35%FTSE 250 - FallersBwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 124.50p -7.57%Home Retail Group (HOME) 74.60p -6.16%Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 231.00p -6.10%Ashtead Group (AHT) 215.00p -5.99%Lamprell (LAM) 121.00p -5.84%Ocado Group (OCDO) 108.30p -5.41%Cookson Group (CKSN) 645.50p -4.93%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 531.50p -4.75%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,855.00p -4.55%Aveva Group (AVV) 1,469.00p -4.49%FTSE TechMARK - RisersAsterand (ATD) 1.38p +10.00%Hiwave Technologies (HIW) 2.70p +8.00%FTSE TechMARK - FallersFiltronic (FTC) 21.25p -15.00%Promethean World (PRW) 46.00p -6.12%Skyepharma (SKP) 68.50p -4.20%Xaar (XAR) 214.00p -3.82%Gresham Computing (GHT) 57.50p -3.36%JH