London midday: Banks plummet, retailers buck trend

A decent performance from the retail sector was not enough to pull the market higher by lunchtime, as investors bailed out of banking, engineering and mining stocks on concerns over the global economy.Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the Eurogroup finance minister committee, has said that there will be a delay to the decision on whether or not to give Greece the next €8bn tranche of aid. Nevertheless, he repeatedly made plain that none of the Eurozone countries was urging a Greek default and categorically denied that there was any question of Greece leaving the euro area.However, despite rumours that the nation's Prime Minister George Papandreu is looking to resign have been quashed by a spokesperson from his office, the speculation has not done much for confidence in the country's political situation.Juncker also suggested that conditions of the 21 July agreement (for the second package) may need to be looked over once again and a review of the level of the private sector involvement could be reviewed. This has sparked a wide sell-off in banks across the continent on concerns over further write-downs of Greek debt, with Dexia, UBS and Deutsche Bank falling heavily in Europe. In London, Barclays, RBS and Lloyds were among the worst performers. RBS was out of favour on reports that a £1.4bn deal between itself and Blackstone to dispose of the bank's troubled property loans could fail.Engineers Weir, GKN and IMI were being shelved, while miners Vedanta Resources and Xstrata were also registering heavy losses.Heating and plumbing giant Wolseley was sinking despite resuming its final dividend for the year ended 31 July as it swung to a pre-tax profit of £391m, up from a loss of £328m the year before. In contrast, supermarket giant Tesco was the best performer ahead of its interim results due tomorrow, after UBS upgraded the stock from neutral to buy and added the stock to its 'Key Calls' list, highlighting that "driving higher returns is now at the heart of group strategy." Morrisons rose in sympathy.Home Retail was in demand on the back of takeover rumours. Among the possible suitors which are being talked about are Wal-Mart and a US private equity fund. Other retail names such as Debenhams, Carpetright, Greggs and Ocado were also higher.BCFTSE 100 - RisersTesco (TSCO) 378.80p +2.24%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 287.70p +0.28%FTSE 100 - FallersWeir Group (WEIR) 1,377.00p -6.90%GKN (GKN) 156.70p -6.73%Vedanta Resources (VED) 943.00p -6.63%Barclays (BARC) 146.00p -6.56%Prudential (PRU) 508.00p -6.36%IMI (IMI) 643.00p -6.20%Xstrata (XTA) 742.00p -6.18%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 31.43p -6.07%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 145.70p -5.70%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 90.10p -5.65%FTSE 250 - RisersDebenhams (DEB) 59.15p +3.14%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 532.00p +2.70%Cranswick (CWK) 635.00p +1.60%Carpetright (CPR) 501.00p +1.33%Home Retail Group (HOME) 119.10p +0.42%Greggs (GRG) 466.50p +0.37%Ocado Group (OCDO) 99.35p +0.35%RPC Group (RPC) 322.00p +0.25%WH Smith (SMWH) 503.00p +0.10%International Public Partnerships Ltd. (INPP) 114.80p +0.09%FTSE 250 - FallersWood Group (John) (WG.) 468.50p -8.59%Victrex (VCT) 1,028.00p -7.97%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 720.00p -7.51%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 248.80p -6.92%Premier Foods (PFD) 9.20p -6.79%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 28.00p -6.35%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 245.50p -6.33%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 207.70p -6.27%Anglo Pacific Group (APF) 232.10p -6.22%Unite Group (UTG) 153.90p -5.99%