London open: Tobacco stocks provide a drag early on

- Greece to ask for more time- Markets await MPC minutes- Tobacco stocks fall on Australian plain packaging issueUK stocks slipped on Wednesday morning on the back of concerns over Greece and ahead of a keenly awaited report on US industrial output; tobacco companies were leading the decline in London after an unfavourable Australian ruling.Greece needs two more years to implement its austerity package which seeks to comply with the bailout requirements by reducing debt. According to a report by Financial Times on Tuesday evening, the proposal suggests slowing down the cuts by spreading them over a four-year period until 2016. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras expects to present the proposal during talks to be held next week with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande, according to the FT report. Investors will be keeping an eye out for the minutes of the latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting due out later this morning.The Bank's Governor, Mervyn King, made it pretty clear in his press conference following the release of the central bank's inflation trends report that he did not think it was necessary just yet to contemplate more financial stimulus, whether through more asset purchases or a rate cut, but it will be interesting to see if any of his colleagues on the MPC disagree with him. Analysts at Barclays Capital said this morning: "We expect these [minutes] to show that the votes to hold Bank Rate at 0.5% and to maintain the stock of asset purchases at £375bn were both unanimous. We also look to the minutes to shed further light on the committee's evolving view on the efficacy of a 25bp rate cut should conditions warrant further policy easing."FTSE 100: Imperials and BATS providing a dragCigarette giants Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco (BATS) were leading the retreat after a legal challenge to Australia's decision to insist cigarettes are sold in plain packaging was thrown out. The new packaging rules are scheduled to be come into force at the beginning of December. BATS was also lower after being among the handful of stock which went ex-dividend today, along with Anglo American, Fresnillo, Hammerson, Meggitt, Pearson, PZ Cussons, Rio Tinto, Schroders and Vedanta. From today, investors will not have the right to each company's respective dividends.Heading the other way was Standard Chartered after having reached a settlement with the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) over claims its US subsidiary illegally processed payments for Iran. The emerging markets-focused bank will pay $340m to settle the claims.Sector peer Lloyds was flat after announcing its intention to sell its interest in a portfolio of private equity-related investments worth over a billion pounds which made a loss last year. Diversified mining giant Eurasian Natural Resources Corp (ENRC) slipped after being hit by a fall in commodity prices and challenging economic conditions in the first half, meaning that both revenues and profits were significantly lower than the same period in 2011. The group slashed its interim dividend by 59.4%.FTSE 100 - RisersResolution Ltd. (RSL) 238.40p +8.36%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,409.00p +2.85%ARM Holdings (ARM) 580.50p +1.13%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,017.00p +0.90%British Land Co (BLND) 545.50p +0.65%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 357.50p +0.42%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,193.00p +0.42%Experian (EXPN) 996.00p +0.40%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,367.00p +0.37%Babcock International Group (BAB) 902.00p +0.33%FTSE 100 - FallersRio Tinto (RIO) 3,059.50p -4.09%Vedanta Resources (VED) 927.00p -3.44%Anglo American (AAL) 1,962.00p -2.75%Evraz (EVR) 266.30p -2.53%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 405.80p -2.15%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,514.00p -2.01%British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,382.00p -1.84%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,947.00p -1.74%CRH (CRH) 1,140.00p -1.72%Xstrata (XTA) 919.40p -1.67%FTSE 250 - RisersPerform Group (PER) 389.00p +3.46%Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,175.00p +2.17%Redrow (RDW) 138.90p +1.98%Interserve (IRV) 329.90p +1.82%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 167.00p +1.77%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 299.30p +1.70%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 584.00p +1.57%Henderson Group (HGG) 109.70p +1.57%Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 1,300.00p +1.40%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 499.10p +1.40%FTSE 250 - FallersMan Group (EMG) 81.35p -5.46%FirstGroup (FGP) 247.50p -4.44%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 288.80p -4.18%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 186.20p -2.62%Salamander Energy (SMDR) 197.00p -2.28%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 420.60p -2.21%Ruspetro (RPO) 147.30p -2.19%Premier Oil (PMO) 386.30p -2.13%Petropavlovsk (POG) 436.20p -2.13%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 33.38p -2.00%BC