Markets: Eurozone worries fail to slow FTSE

THE London market closed ahead yesterday as investors took the loss of France’s gold-plated AAA credit rating and speculation over Greece’s future in the eurozone in their stride.

The FTSE 100 Index closed 20.8 points or 0.4 per cent higher at 5,657.44, while Germany’s Dax was more than 1 per cent ahead and the Cac-40 in Paris was 0.9 per cent up. There was no direction from the US, where the market was closed for Martin Luther King day.

Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG Index, said: “The absence of US traders from today’s markets has led to a distinctly lacklustre day, with the FTSE shifting listlessly from gains to losses and then back again.”

The downgrade of France by Standard & Poor’s came as little surprise, while rival agency Moody’s helped sentiment by saying it will maintain the country’s top-tier rating for the time being. The steady performance also came despite fresh speculation that Greece is on the brink of leaving the single currency because it will not have enough funds for a £12 billion bond that has to be repaid on 20 March.

Banks were under pressure with Barclays down 2.1p at 199.1p and Lloyds Banking Group off 0.04p at 29.4p. However, Royal Bank of Scotland continued its recent rally, sparked by a positive reaction to its restructuring plans, rising 0.3p to 24.4p.

Much of the attention of investors was focused on cruise ship company Carnival after the disaster involving the Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy. Shares slumped 16.5 per cent or 370p to 1,878p as the firm said it was too early to calculate the full costs of the incident.

Publishing firm Bloomsbury saw its shares climb 2p to 99p after it reported a strong Christmas quarter, with sales of ebooks up 38 per cent on a year earlier. The update helped boost Penguin owner Pearson, which finished close to the top of the FTSE 100 Index risers’ board with an improvement of 3 per cent or 33p to 1,250p.

Scots dairy company Robert Wiseman jumped a further 18 per cent after its board backed a £280m takeover offer from German-owned yoghurt maker Müller. Shares were up 59.5p to 387.5p after gains of 34 per cent on Friday when Wiseman admitted it was in talks with Müller.