FTSE: City shrugs off Greek woes to hit high

THE London market hit a 22-month high yesterday amid decent economic news, despite the growing prospect of an International Monetary Fund bailout for Greece.

An IMF team is being sent to Athens at the request of the Greek government, but investors instead focused on Chinese growth hitting a three-year high and strong US manufacturing figures.

The FTSE 100 index closed 28.76 points ahead at 5,825.01, despite a sluggish start on Wall Street's Dow Jones industrial average after Wednesday's 100-point surge.

Jimmy Yates, head of equities at CMC Markets, said: "With pretty robust data coming thick and fast out of the US, there is little in the way of short-term head-winds to hold back this market."

The pound was flat against the dollar at just below $1.55, although it rose above 1.14 against the single currency. The euro dropped one cent against the dollar on more wobbles over Greece's precarious fiscal position.

Chris Gaffney, vice-president at EverBank World Markets, said: "The whole Pigs (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain] story is creeping back up.

"The euro had run up the past days pretty dramatically and so a pause is going to be just natural. The markets were looking for an excuse to stop the euro's ascent."

There was little in the way of corporate news in London to drive equity markets yesterday, although banks enjoyed a strong session after an upgrade for European players from Exane BNP Paribas.

HSBC topped the Footsie leaderboard with a 20.5p or 3 per cent rise to 712.5p, while Barclays cheered 9.65p to 383.15p. Royal Bank of Scotland was 1p dearer at 46p and Lloyds Banking Group gained 0.9p to 65.4p.

BP was also on the rise, cheering 9.9p to 653p as it rode out a protest resolution at its annual meeting calling for greater scrutiny of assumptions behind its controversial Canadian oil sands project.

The leading Footsie faller was credit checking firm Experian, whose trading update flagged up a return to growth for its main North American market. Organic growth of 2 per cent for the overall group disappointed the market, however, and left the shares down 18.5p or 3 per cent at 616.5p.

Elsewhere, figures from food producer Uniq said the current financial year had started well, but this was overshadowed after it posted a wider full-year loss due to continued pension woes.

The company, which makes sandwiches and desserts for retailers, including Marks & Spencer, saw its share price fall 5p or 19 per cent to 21.25p.

Shares in EasyJet lost ground after the disruption to services caused by ash from Iceland's volcanic eruption moving into UK airspace. Shares were 1.3p lower at 483.7p. British Airways, meanwhile, fell 0.4p to 242.6p.

Another stock falling was department store chain Debenhams following its results on Wednesday. Despite forecast-beating profits and UBS lifting its target price on the company, shares in the firm were down 1.1p to 76.75p.

Among the Scottish stocks, Dana Petroleum ended the day up 39p at 1,308p after delivering a positive drilling update.

Meanwhile, Fife-based shop-fitter Havelock Europa rocketed 22.4 per cent – or 3.25p – to 17.75p as the search continues for a new chief executive to replace the long-serving Hew Balfour, who left earlier this month.