London open: Stocks plunge after Franco-German meeting

Stocks have fallen sharply as traders give the thumbs down to yesterday's meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.Hopes that the pair would agree to the idea of euro-bonds were dashed; instead the leaders mooted a tax on financial transactions as a way of raising more revenue for the eurozone.Among the fallers today is brewing giant SABMiller, lacking fizz as it goes hostile with its £6bn bid for Fosters, after the Australian brewer's directors showed no interest in discussing a takeover. SABMiller is offering A$4.90 per Foster's share, though the offer price will be reduced by an amount equivalent to any dividend or distribution paid by Foster's subsequent to the bid announcement.Traders have reacted positively to chemical materials supplier AZ Electronic Materials' announcement that it will pay an interim dividend.However, Talvivaara Mining has taken a dive. The Finnish company's second quarter performance was hurt by a production stoppage and declining nickel prices.Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty is lower after it said it expects markets to remain tough in the short term as it posted a meagre rise in underlying pre-tax profits and revenues for the half year to 1 July. Underlying pre-tax profits rose to £138m from £133m, while revenues edged up to £5.222bn from £5.16bn. Kazakh mining giant ENRC pointed to continued growth in China, which neighbours the central Asian country, and the recovery elsewhere as it posted a sharp rise in profits and revenues in the first half year. Revenues were up by 32% from the same period the previous year at $4.011m while EBITDA (earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation) climbed by 33% to $1.927bn.Educational publisher Pearson, is one of today's heaviest fallers in the FTSE 100, despite saying it is to receive a belated $115m cash windfall from the sale of its Government Solutions business back in 2006. The business has subsequently been sold on again to General Dynamics.Turning to smaller companies, Advertising firm MediaZest falls sharply even after it said group revenues have improved since the start of the new financial year in April 2011 with momentum expected to carry on into the quarter ending 30 September 2011. FTSE 100 - RisersShire Plc (SHP) 1,962.00p -0.05%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 629.50p -0.32%National Grid (NG.) 598.00p -0.33%Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,260.00p -0.40%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,935.00p -0.46%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,454.00p -0.48%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,017.00p -0.49%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 337.50p -0.59%GKN (GKN) 197.20p -0.60%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,395.00p -0.62%FTSE 100 - FallersICAP (IAP) 425.50p -4.27%Barclays (BARC) 174.45p -3.94%IMI (IMI) 834.00p -3.64%Standard Life (SL.) 205.00p -3.48%Hammerson (HMSO) 413.90p -2.98%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 25.00p -2.84%Schroders (SDR) 1,478.00p -2.76%Prudential (PRU) 619.00p -2.75%Pearson (PSON) 1,070.00p -2.64%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 32.41p -2.56%FTSE 250 - RisersAZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 239.80p +3.94%Perform Group (PER) 175.00p +2.88%St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 144.00p +2.86%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 44.79p +2.05%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 515.00p +1.68%Devro (DVO) 266.90p +1.48%PZ Cussons (PZC) 359.80p +1.47%RPC Group (RPC) 333.00p +1.34%BH Macro Ltd. EUR Shares (BHME) € 18.65 +1.30%Premier Foods (PFD) 14.99p +1.22%FTSE 250 - FallersTalvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 333.00p -7.58%Ashtead Group (AHT) 113.10p -4.23%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 835.00p -4.08%Regus (RGU) 79.55p -3.40%EnQuest (ENQ) 109.80p -3.17%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 333.10p -3.17%Melrose (MRO) 308.00p -3.14%Persimmon (PSN) 400.60p -3.07%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 255.20p -2.93%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 187.00p -2.91%