London’s blue-chip stocks continued higher at lunch as investors were buoyed by the news that a deal between Greece and its creditors has been struck.
After a 17 hour marathon session, leaders were finally able to announce a deal this morning.
Chris Beauchamp at IG said: “Markets have reacted in a suitably ebullient tone, if only out of relief that a weekend summit has managed to produce something of substance.
“The hard work is not over – the deal still has to be got through national parliaments, with Athens and Berlin being the main ones to watch.”
Details were sketchy but European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker’s commented “There will be no Grexit.”
Reports state that Germany made few concessions during the lengthy talks and insisted that €50bn of assets being used to pay down Greece debts.
While the agreement appears to be a win for creditors, and investors, it is not quite certain what it means for Greece Beauchamp at IG says.
Commentators said that the deal is worse for Greece than the one rejected last week, with some speculating that embattled prime minister Alexis Tsipras may find it tough to survive the asset pledge.
Understandably, since this is what they have been waiting for, the Eurozone indices shot up, with the French Cac 40 climbing 92 point to 4,995 and the German Dax rising 150 points to 11,464.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the FTSE 100 climbed 50 points by lunch to sit at 6,727.
Supermarkets were higher with Morrisons (LON:MRW) leading the risers, climbing almost 3% to 177p, while Tesco (LON:TSCO) and Sainsbury’s (LON:SBRY) both gained more than 1.5%.
Almost all of companies on the FTSE 100 were in the blue, with the exception of a few. Silver miner Fresnillo (LON:FRES) occupied the bottom spot, easing 1.1% to 664p.
Away from the index, chemical manufacturer Platform Speciality Products (LON:PAH) is nearing the takeover of rival firm Alent (LON:ALNT) for £1.35bn.
The two companies reached an agreement that values each Alent share at 503p, a 49% premium to Friday’s closing price.
Shares in Alent rocketed 43%, or 147p, to 485p on the news.
Meanwhile, in other takeover news, Nostrum Oil & Gas (LON:NOG) is making another approach for Tethys Petroleum (LON:TPL).
A share based transaction, proposed at a notional 21.85 Canadian cents per share, represents a premium of around 15% to the terms of a deal on the table between Tethys and Kazakh group AGR Energy.
Tethys shares rose by 24% to 9.66p.
Elsewhere, Anglo Asian (LON:AAZ) shares soared as it posted record gold output from its Gedabek mine in Azerbaijan. Shares jumped 16% to 7p.
Conversely, International Personal Finance (LON:IPF) warned there could be financial consequences as a result of potential legal changes in Poland.
Shares in the home credit and digital loan provider eased 14% to 401p.