London’s blue-chip stocks opened on the front foot again this morning although at a reduced pace as markets mirror the sentiments and speculation surrounding Greece’s on-going debt negotiations.
Greece has been given 48 hours to reach a deal and creditors are looking for an acceptable agreement tomorrow so that EU leaders can rubber-stamp by the end of the week.
Meanwhile, overnight, stocks in the US and in Asia rallied on the renewed optimism that a Greek debt deal can be reached.
Back in the UK, the FTSE 100 was 17 points to the good at 6,842 with Sports Direct (LON:SPD) leading the way higher following an upgrade from RBC Capital Markets.
The broker bumped its rating to ‘outperform’ from ‘sector perform’ and hiked the target price 150p to 800p. Shares climbed 3.7% to 728.5p on the news.
Similarly, platinum refiner Johnson Matthey (LON:JMAT) was bumped up to a ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ by CitiGroup. Shares rose 2.3% to 3,226p.
At the other end of the index, Bunzl (LON:BNZL) was the biggest faller in early deals.
The distribution and support services group unveiled a string of four international acquisitions as it reported an expected rise in half-year revenue. Shares eased 1.6% to 1,861p on the news.
Meanwhile, shares in Lloyds (LON:LLOY) were little changed despite the news that the government today reduced its stake in the bank to below 17%.
It sold another 1%, taking the total amount recovered by the taxpayer to £11.5bn.
Away from the index, Ladbrokes (LON:LAD) was a big early gainer as the betting firm announced it is in talks with Gala Coral about a £4bn merger.
Investors were excited about the prospect of the combined company creating the UK's biggest gambling group and shares jumped 12% to 137p.
In earnings news, Telecom Plus (LON:TEP) reported end of year results that are in line with the April trading update. Shares climbed 3.3% to 848p.
Meanwhile, Petrofac (LON:PFC) was higher despite its Laggan-Tormore project costing an extra £30mln to complete.
The rest of its portfolio was performing in line with expectations and shares climbed 7% to 932p on the news.
In small caps, Sirius Petroleum (LON:SRSP) was 18% higher to 0.9p after it announced it has signed a deal with Havoc Partners.
Havoc will be Sirius’s technical adviser and will provide a technical and commercial assessment of the oil and gas assets which Sirius is interested in.
Meanwhile, the biggest riser was Birdseye owner Nomad Foods (LONL:NHL).
The company, which acquired Iglo Foods earlier this month, climbed 72% to 20.5p on its first day of trading.
Alecto Minerals (LON:ALO) has raised £300,000 through a placing at 0.1p with an existing institutional investor. Shares dropped 24% to 0.125p on the news.
Tangent Communications (LON:TNG) issued a profit warning due to worse-than-expected performance at its Tangent Snowball division. Shares eased 13% to 2.5p.