As Greece edged closer to default and investors awaited the latest comments from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen on the possible timing of a US interest rate rise, leading shares fell back again.
The eurozone crisis was again centre stage as the Bank of Greece warned of an uncontrollable crisis unless a deal was agreed with its creditors, while one of the country’s top negotiators warned it had no money to pay the €1.6bn due to the International Monetary Fund at the end of the month without an agreement.
So after drifting lower for much of the day, the FTSE 100 finished 29.55 points lower at 6680.55, its lowest level since 20 January. Germany’s Dax and France’s Cac lost early gains to close 0.6% and 1% lower respectively, while the Athens market again fell sharply, down 3.15%.
On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 16 points by the time London closed, ahead of the Fed meeting.
Housebuilders bucked the trend however after better than expected profits and positive outlook comments - UK referendum worries aside - from Berkeley, 323p better at £34.81. Persimmon put on 32p to £19.91 while Barratt Developments added 9p to 618.5p.
But among the fallers, Randgold Resources lost 75p to £44.27 as gold and silver slipped back, while Fresnillo fell 8p to 712p.
Among the mid-caps Betfair lost 98p to £24.16 despite a higher than forecast rise in full year profits, as Panmure Gordon moved from buy to hold and Numis raised concerns over valuation. Numis said:
With just a hint of Churchill the management statement which accompanies today’s full year results highlights management’s focus on competition. We believe that Betfair is an excellent operator in a highly competitive market but that the valuation may have lost sight of quite how competitive.
Just Eat lost 15.2p to 407p after Morgan Stanley started coverage with an equal weight rating and the Irish Times highlighted problems with restaurants using duplicate listings on its website, partly to avoid bad reviews.
Elsewhere Inmarsat dropped 11.5p to 949p as Charles Stanley issue a downbeat note on the satellite communications group:
2014 results were at best fair. On an underlying basis earnings fell significantly and reflected a year of “transition” to the new superfast broadband technology, to be followed by “transformation” in 2015. There are many growth drivers, but a number of possible pitfalls. Valuation is fairly full and we believe that better opportunities for investment may arise, so we have a reduce recommendation.
