London midday: Stocks pull back as UK retail sales drop

Disappointing retail sales in the UK saw markets pull back from a 13-year highs on Wednesday morning while traders kept a close eye on central banks around the world.UK retail sales volumes fell sharply in April, by 1.3% month-on-month as the poor weather continued to lead shoppers to forego purchases of seasonal goods, although food price inflation seems to have been a factor as well. This was worse than the 0.6% drop the month before, disappointing analysts who had actually expected a 0.1% increase.The FTSE 100 finished at a closing price of 6,803.87 on Tuesday, extending its impressive year-to-date rise to over 15%. The index is now coming close to the all-time closing high of 6,930.2 reached on December 30th 1999. Overnight saw the latest policy decision from Japan, where officials decided to stick with their ultra-loose monetary policy measures, as expected. The Bank of Japan did however saw that its move to double its monetary base within two years to achieve a 2.0% inflation rate was starting to work and the economy has "started picking up".This morning's release of the minutes from the latest Monetary Policy Committee meeting in the UK showed that Bank of England policymakers voted unanimously to keep the Bank Rate at 0.5% and six-to-three in favour of maintaining its current quantitative easing (QE) programme, as expected."The key question for markets is whether the arrival of new Governor Mark Carney in July will lead to a step change in the policy outlook," said analyst Simon Hayes from Barclays Research. Carney came out in support of Japan's "bold policy experiment" yesterday, increasing speculation that he may take "fresh action to boost demand", Hayes said.Traders are also awaiting the minutes of this month's Federal Open Market Committee meeting Stateside which are due out this evening, as speculation ramps up about the Fed's potential 'exit strategy' from its $85bn-a-month asset purchase programme.FTSE 100: ARM falls after broker commentsChip designer ARM Holdings was under pressure this morning following its investor day earlier this week as a number of brokers choose to remain cautious on the name given the stock's expensive valuation. Morgan Stanley, Espirito Santo and Liberum Capital have all said that positives are now largely priced in, and raised concerns about the company losing market share to Intel over the next few years.Shares in Morrison were falling sharply after UBS confirmed that it had placed around 100m shares in the supermarket stock on behalf of an institutional seller at 280p each, well below yesterday's closing price of 289.3p.Engineering firm Rolls-Royce was flat despite winning an engine order from CIT Aerospace to power 10 Airbus XWB aircraft and 13 Airbus A330 aircraft.Leading the upside was Lloyds after saying that it will be able to meet new heavier capital requirements from its existing business and selective disposals, responding to claims that it was overstating its capital. RBS also said that it will meet requirements "through continued delivery against its business plan.SSE rose after saying that adjusted profit gained 5.6% in the year ended March thanks to a rise in prices and a cold winter period.FTSE 250: Britvic jumps as profits riseSoft drinks group Britvic gained after serving up a strong set of interim results, with pre-tax profit rising from £24.8m to £37.5m in the 28 weeks to April 15th. Intermediate Capital was another high riser after unveiling record assets under management in 2012/13 and saying that realisations were picking up after subdued activity last year.FTSE 100 - RisersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 63.00p +2.39%easyJet (EZJ) 1,279.00p +2.16%BAE Systems (BA.) 425.10p +1.77%Antofagasta (ANTO) 980.50p +1.71%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 475.50p +1.62%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 347.70p +1.61%Rexam (REX) 539.00p +1.13%Barclays (BARC) 326.70p +1.05%William Hill (WMH) 450.90p +0.96%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,978.00p +0.95%FTSE 100 - FallersARM Holdings (ARM) 1,024.00p -3.85%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 280.60p -3.01%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,498.00p -2.79%Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,196.00p -2.38%Polymetal International (POLY) 653.50p -2.32%CRH (CRH) 1,410.00p -2.22%Wolseley (WOS) 3,422.00p -1.75%Bunzl (BNZL) 1,323.00p -1.42%Carnival (CCL) 2,237.00p -1.32%Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) 341.55p -1.29%FTSE 250 - RisersBritvic (BVIC) 534.00p +13.09%Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 482.40p +5.72%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 272.00p +4.62%Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 214.90p +3.57%Supergroup (SGP) 788.00p +3.41%Alent (ALNT) 359.90p +3.01%Rank Group (RNK) 163.90p +2.44%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,583.00p +2.33%BH Macro Ltd. EUR Shares (BHME) € 23.15 +2.30%Senior (SNR) 279.30p +2.27%FTSE 250 - FallersKazakhmys (KAZ) 343.80p -5.89%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 114.50p -4.58%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,930.00p -3.68%FirstGroup (FGP) 148.60p -3.32%Menzies(John) (MNZS) 741.50p -3.01%Great Portland Estates (GPOR) 581.00p -2.84%Provident Financial (PFG) 1,579.00p -2.53%Mitie Group (MTO) 258.80p -2.34%QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 202.40p -2.22%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 121.30p -2.02%