London midday: Stocks pull back as corporate earnings disappoint

After coming close to another record high early on, UK stocks flatlined by Tuesday lunchtime as corporate earnings received a cool reaction from investors.The FTSE 100 was down 0.1% at 6,934.70 by midday, pulling back after reaching a high of 6,963.55 early on as Barclays, Glencore, Ashtead and Travis Perkins underwhelmed with their annual results.The index set a new intraday all-time high of 6,974.26 reached on Monday.The positive start followed a strong performance on Wall Street the previous session, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 both closing at record highs and the Nasdaq finishing above 5,000 for the first time in 15 years.Economic data was thin on the ground on Tuesday, though the focus was on German retail sales which jumped 2.9% in January after a revised 0.6% gain in December. This was well ahead of the 0.4% increase expected by analysts.Elsewhere in the Eurozone, a Spanish official claimed that the region is discussing a third bailout for Greece worth €30bn-50bn, though Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem dismissed the rumours.Meanwhile, the Markit/CIPS UK construction purchasing managers' index rose to a four-month high of 60.1 in February from 59.1 in January, ahead of the 59.0 consensus forecast.Barclays and Glencore provide a dragShares in Barclays fell after the bank set aside a total of £1.25bn for provisions to cover litigation costs related to ongoing probes into mis-selling PPI and rigging foreign exchange rates. The news came as Barclays reported a pre-tax loss of £532m for the fourth quarter.RBS and Lloyds were also in the red by lunchtime.Commodities trader and mining group Glencore was leading miners lower after posting a 2% decline in operating profits in 2014 and slashing its investment budget for this year. Sector peers BHP Billiton and Fresnillo were also falling.Equipment rental outfit Ashtead was also out of favour despite saying it expected full-year results to be ahead of its previous expectations after a strong third quarter, while builders merchant Travis Perkins disappointed with a cautious outlook for the UK housing market.However, housebuilder Taylor Wimpey impressed by doubling its dividend payment after unveiling 54% operating profit growth in 2014 and enjoying better-than-expected trading in the new year.Shares in RSA Insurance were under the weather after Bernstein analysts lowered their rating on the stock from 'outperform' to 'market perform', while Intertek was downgraded by HSBC from 'overweight' to 'neutral'.Market MoverstechMARK 3,166.51 +0.34%FTSE 100 6,934.70 -0.09%FTSE 250 17,238.57 -0.07%FTSE 100 - RisersTullow Oil (TLW) 372.30p +4.20%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,190.00p +2.59%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 203.50p +2.36%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 276.80p +1.76%Shire Plc (SHP) 5,235.00p +1.45%Centrica (CNA) 249.50p +1.22%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,573.00p +1.22%British Land Co (BLND) 854.00p +1.07%SABMiller (SAB) 3,691.50p +1.04%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 146.40p +1.04%FTSE 100 - FallersBarclays (BARC) 254.35p -3.20%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 423.70p -2.44%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,979.00p -2.27%Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,156.00p -2.12%Glencore (GLEN) 294.35p -2.06%Fresnillo (FRES) 795.00p -2.03%ITV (ITV) 223.30p -1.98%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,049.00p -1.96%Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,521.00p -1.60%United Utilities Group (UU.) 930.50p -1.53%FTSE 250 - RisersPace (PIC) 365.30p +8.82%Rotork (ROR) 2,603.00p +6.42%Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,229.00p +5.95%Vesuvius (VSVS) 500.00p +5.26%Hunting (HTG) 492.70p +4.16%Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 915.50p +3.92%Laird (LRD) 354.40p +3.78%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 678.00p +3.12%Booker Group (BOK) 163.80p +3.02%Just Retirement Group (JRG) 177.50p +2.96%FTSE 250 - FallersDunelm Group (DNLM) 872.00p -6.84%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 251.70p -5.87%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 331.90p -5.71%Regus (RGU) 229.90p -4.80%Lonmin (LMI) 147.10p -4.79%Afren (AFR) 9.50p -4.09%Ocado Group (OCDO) 360.30p -3.38%Countrywide (CWD) 515.00p -3.29%IMI (IMI) 1,322.00p -3.08%Serco Group (SRP) 207.10p -3.00%