London close: Stocks shake off worries, close off lows

London stocks managed to finish the session above their worst levels of the day as Wall Street fought to break a three day losing streak, although worries regarding the situation in Greece and the recent selling in German sovereign debt markets continued to weigh on sentiment.The Footsie ended the day down by 36.96 points or 0.54% to 6,753.08 points after hitting an intra-day low at 6,736.88.On Tuesday morning Greece presented a new set of proposals to its creditors in a bid to buy precious time to broker a medium-term agreement with its creditors, but analysts were unimpressed."It is worth remembering that previous arrangements to buy Greece time have proved counter-productive," Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics said in a research note e-mailed to clients.Loynes believed a full-blown default was necessary to return Greece's levels of public debt back to sustainable levels.German Bund yields continued to edge higher, finishing the day at 0.95%.Nonetheless, with the DAX now 10% off its April high, markets offered a better risk-reward profile, so "buy the dip" analysts at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch told their clients.In April the broker had warned that markets were vulnerable because of the strong rally from October last year. Mixed data from overseasChina's consumer price index rose 1.2% year-on-year in May, easing back from a 1.5% increase a month earlier. Analysts at Deutsche Bank said that argued in favour of further stimulus measures from the country's central bank.The second estimate of first quarter Eurozone GDP revealed a 1% year-on-year gain and a 0.4% quarter-on-quarter rise, unchanged from the previous quarter's reading."While oil prices, the euro and bond yields have all firmed from their recent lows, they are still at levels that should be very helpful to Eurozone growth while further support should come from on-going major ECB stimulus and much reduced fiscal headwinds," said Dr.Howard Archer, chief European and UK economist at IHS Global Insight.Miners lower on broker downgradeSocGen cut its price target on shares of Rio Tinto to 3,100p from 4,000p previously. The broker also lowered its recommendation on Anglo American to a 'hold' with a new price target of 1,090, down from 1,540p previously. Shares in BHP Billiton on the other hand were upgraded to a 'buy', versus a previous recommendation to 'hold'. The target price on the other hand was nudged lower to 1,600p from 1,700p. That came as SocGen lowered its estimate for the price of iron ore for the years between 2015 and 2018 "conservatively" to $55 per metric tonne and to $70 per metric tonne thereafter. One trader cautioned the SocGen downgrades were in fact from Monday although the research reports were dated 9 June.Media group Reed Elsevier offers excellent value for growth given how its shares have seen no re-rating on a relative P/E-basis since the start of 2012, after underperforming by 7-8% year-to-date, said Barclays in a research note e-mailed to clients. The broker upgraded its recommendation on the stock to overweight from equal-weight, setting a 1225p target price.HSBC announced a round of job cuts and branch closures with the aim of saving between $4.5bn to $5bn in annual costs by 2017. In a statement issued to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the lender said it would reduce its risk-weighted assets by about $290bn and still targeting a return on equity of more than 10% within two years. Globally between 22,000 and 25,000 jobs are set to go. In a research report Goldman Sachs said the lender's dividend was now safer following the reduction to the bank's target for RWA.Kier Group has completed its acquisition of Mouchel, which is the leading provider of repair and maintenance services to the UK strategic road network. The FTSE 250 made the acquisition to accelerate its plans for growth in the infrastructure sector and will now be able to capitalise on the £17bn of investment in the strategic road network that is to be delivered through Highways England over the next five years.RPC Group posted a 33% rise in full-year adjusted pre-tax profit to £119m from £89.5m, as the business performed well and the company made progress in implementing its Vision 2020 growth strategy. Revenue was up 17% at £1.22m from £1.05m and the company recommended a final dividend of 11p, giving a total dividend for the year of 15.4p, marking a 12% increase from last year.Mobile takeaway food company Just Eat completed the open offer and placing of shares, raising £445m. A total of 43.56m new shares were issued under an open offer, with a further 61.83m placed. The proceeds will be used to finance the company's proposed acquisition of Menulog Group, which is expected to complete this month.Market MoverstechMARK 3,194.91 -0.64%FTSE 100 6,753.80 -0.53%FTSE 250 17,839.79 -0.22%FTSE 100 - RisersRoyal Mail (RMG) 511.50p +2.30%Mondi (MNDI) 1,395.00p +1.97%Intu Properties (INTU) 319.80p +1.49%Reed Elsevier (REL) 1,077.00p +1.41%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,652.00p +1.31%GKN (GKN) 362.20p +1.23%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,034.00p +1.12%TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,194.00p +0.84%British Land Company (BLND) 824.00p +0.80%G4S (GFS) 290.30p +0.69%FTSE 100 - FallersPearson (PSON) 1,273.00p -2.38%AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,246.00p -2.01%Anglo American (AAL) 985.40p -2.00%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 426.80p -1.48%CRH (CRH) 1,795.00p -1.48%Kingfisher (KGF) 374.50p -1.40%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,781.00p -1.33%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,436.00p -1.31%National Grid (NG.) 848.10p -1.29%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,233.00p -1.22%FTSE 250 - RisersInfinis Energy (INFI) 204.00p +7.65%Vedanta Resources (VED) 573.00p +5.23%Clarkson (CKN) 2,567.00p +2.84%Keller Group (KLR) 1,099.00p +2.71%RPC Group (RPC) 634.50p +2.67%Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 533.00p +2.50%Savills (SVS) 953.50p +2.31%PayPoint (PAY) 1,039.00p +2.06%Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 346.00p +2.03%Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,815.00p +1.79%FTSE 250 - FallersAO World (AO.) 155.00p -4.73%Cineworld Group (CINE) 490.00p -3.73%Evraz (EVR) 161.10p -2.78%Pets at Home Group (PETS) 273.80p -2.56%Diploma (DPLM) 775.50p -2.15%Poundland Group (PLND) 294.00p -2.00%Drax Group (DRX) 369.80p -1.86%Alent (ALNT) 367.50p -1.74%DCC (DCC) 5,090.00p -1.74%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 64.30p -1.61%