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London open: Stocks rise after Greek draft deal

Thu, 09th Feb 2012 08:19

- Stock nudge higher after Greece drafts agreement.- BG leads oil stocks higher.- Hagreaves, Rio, Rolls-Royce, British Land, Diageo, Tate & Lyle fall after updates.It was a cautious start for the Footsie as stocks edged higher in early trading after Greece's political leaders pushed through a draft deal on austerity measures last night. However, concerns still remain with the agreement being labelled as 'incomplete' after the parties failed to agree on cuts to certain pensions.Final approval of the Greek budget cuts must be obtained from the Troika (IMF, ECB and UE) in order for Greek to receive a second €130bn financing package. Despite not having achieved the pension reform required as part of the budget cuts, Greek daily ekathimerini reports that the Troika will give Greece 15 days to find an alternative way of reducing the deficit by €300m. In any case, EU officials had previously stated that Athens would need to obtain their approval before February 15th in order to have access to the funds in time to deal with the €14.5bn bond payment that comes due on March 20th. Legal procedures are expected to take approximately six weeks. Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos is heading to Brussels today to present the Eurogroup with the resulting incomplete budget package at 5pm London time. "I am leaving for Brussels in a short while with the hope that the Eurogroup meeting will be held and a positive decision on the new program will be taken," he said. BG LEADS OIL STOCKS HIGHERBG Group was leading the rise early on as earnings before tax shot up by 40% on last year in the fourth quarter, helped by higher oil prices. Earnings before tax rose to $1,477m in the final quarter of 2011 from $1,056m the year before, pushing up earnings per share to 43.5 cents from 31.2 cents in the corresponding period of 2010. Sector peers BP, Cairn Energy, Tullow Oil and Essar Energy were also in demand, buoyed by today's rise in brent crude prices.SABMiller was also higher after the brewing company announced it would invest $80m in a new brewery for its Ugandan subsidiary, Nile Breweries.Meanwhile, a host of updates and results from some big hitters disappointed early on. Hargreaves Lansdown led the fallers after seeing a 13% fall in net new business in the second half. Investors seemed to ignore the record revenue and profits.Mining giant Rio Tinto slipped after saying that full-year net earnings were held back by a massive $8.9bn impairment charge relating to its aluminium business. Nevertheless, underlying earnings rose 11% to a record $15.5bn.Rolls-Royce was out of favour despite 2011 being a record-breaking year on many fronts. The power systems developer saw underlying profit before tax rose 21%, while underlying revenue edged up 4%.Property group British Land was among the worst performers despite seeing occupancy, income, estimated rental value and underlying profits rise in the third quarter.Drinks giant Diageo fell after reporting flat volumes in its North American and European divisions in the first half ended December 31st. Net sales rose by 8% however as strong growth in emerging markets helped offset slower growth elsewhere.Sweeteners manufacturer Tate & Lyle fell after reporting a mixed performance in the third quarter with subdued volume growth in several divisions. The firm, nevertheless, said its remains on track for a "good performance" in the full-year.BCFTSE 100 - RisersBG Group (BG.) 1,483.00p +2.56%Cairn Energy (CNE) 355.10p +1.86%BP (BP.) 496.00p +1.28%GKN (GKN) 221.60p +1.14%Polymetal International (POLY) 1,153.00p +1.14%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,417.00p +1.00%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,496.00p +0.88%Essar Energy (ESSR) 136.90p +0.81%SABMiller (SAB) 2,526.50p +0.78%ITV (ITV) 78.30p +0.77%FTSE 100 - FallersHargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 448.10p -2.59%Evraz (EVR) 434.10p -1.79%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,808.00p -1.69%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 772.00p -1.66%British Land Co (BLND) 500.00p -1.57%Diageo (DGE) 1,441.00p -1.40%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 687.50p -1.08%ICAP (IAP) 385.70p -0.85%Barclays (BARC) 231.80p -0.77%WPP (WPP) 781.50p -0.64%FTSE 250 - RisersSVG Capital (SVI) 254.50p +6.93%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 52.05p +3.58%Catlin Group Ltd. (CGL) 441.30p +3.49%Computacenter (CCC) 414.90p +2.93%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 625.00p +2.80%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,980.00p +1.85%AG Barr (BAG) 1,268.00p +1.85%Cape (CIU) 437.60p +1.65%Debenhams (DEB) 69.70p +1.53%Invensys (ISYS) 220.00p +1.52%FTSE 250 - FallersIG Group Holdings (IGG) 466.90p -2.01%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 333.10p -1.62%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 570.00p -1.55%Northgate (NTG) 243.60p -1.54%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 14.65p -1.35%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 160.30p -1.35%PayPoint (PAY) 556.50p -1.33%Victrex (VCT) 1,299.00p -1.14%EnQuest (ENQ) 115.70p -1.11%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 518.50p -1.05%

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