London close: Jitters around Greece weigh on stocks ahead of Fed meeting

LONDON (ShareCast) - Stocks dropped ahead of tomorrow's policy decision from the US Federal Reserve as nervousness surrounding Greece continued to simmer, despite another drop in Greek sovereign bond yields after Athens bowed to pressure to re-jig the team in charge of negotiating with its international creditors. Speaking in the afternoon, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said an initial agreement with the nation's creditors may be reached by the end of the week.

However, in a research note e-mailed to clients analysts at Capital Economics wrote: "Rising expectations of a Greek exit from the euro-zone are still not prompting contagion effects or more general concerns about the Eurozone economy. We fear that the markets are too relaxed." The Footsie ended the day lower by 73.45 points or 1.03% to 7,030.53 points. Greek 10-year bond yields fell by 66 basis points to 10.99%.

That came after a very weak reading on first quarter economic growth in the UK which saw Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) put "under review" its forecast for a first increase in Bank Rate in the fourth quarter of 2015. The British economy grew just 0.3% quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of the year, as the services sector "slowed down markedly".

In parallel, investors were continuing to keep close tabs on the results of the latest election polls in the UK.

Nate Silver, the American statistician who forecast the result of the last two US presidential elections with great precision, believes the result of Britain's general elections will be "incredibly messy", the BBC reported.

However, miners got a boost from a report in The Wall Street Journal according to which the People's Bank of China (HKSE: 3988-OL.HK - news) was set to launch its own brand of quantitative easing.

In the next couple of months the Chinese central bank will allow the country's lenders to swap local-government bonds for loans as a way to bolster liquidity and boost lending, according to local officials cited by the newspaper.

Astrazeneca (NYSE: AZN - news) proves a drag Drugmaker Astrazeneca was near the bottom of the pile after the results of a study showed US rival Merck (Other OTC: MKGAF - news) 's diabetes drug met heart-safety requirements. The British drug-maker's own treatment for that chronic disease was recently required by US authorities to carry information about the risk of heart failure.

Total (Swiss: FP.SW - news) revenues from Standard Chartered (Other OTC: SCBFF - news) fell 4% to $4.4bn, a 6% miss versus consensus forecasts of $4.7bn. Customer loans rose by 2% quarter-on-quarter after a 4% decline in the second half of 2014. "On one level, the market may be mildly relieved by today's numbers," said broker Investec (LSE: INVP.L - news) , "but we think that STAN's Q1 2015 IMS offers a preview of the unpalatable impact of planned deleveraging (now underway)." Centrica (LSE: CNA.L - news) 's chairman was quoted saying the company has made preparations in case it receives a takeover offer.

BP has posted an underlying replacement cost profit decline of 20% on an annualised basis for the three months to end-March, though the figure was 15% higher on the previous quarter. In a trading statement on Tuesday, the oil giant said profit for the last quarter came in at $2.6bn compared with $3.2bn for the same period in 2014, and $2.2bn for the fourth quarter of 2014.

Costa Cofee and Premier Inn owner Whitbread (LSE: WTB.L - news) served up impressive results for the year to 26 February but announced that chief executive Andy Harrison will retire by the end of the current financial year. Revenue rose 13.7% to £2.61bn and underlying profits before tax by 18.5% to £488.1m, leading to a 19.4% increase in earnings to 213.67p per share, well ahead of the consensus forecast.

Fund management group Henderson saw record net inflows of £3.6bn in the first three months of the year, which contributed to a 10% rise in assets under management to reach £89.4bn. Chief executive Andrew Formica said: "Evolving client needs have driven us to develop a broad range of investment capabilities over the last few years which has enabled us to deliver market share gains in all of our major markets." After a bitter battle, Dundee-based Alliance Trust has reached a "compromise" with its activist major investor Elliott Advisers, allowing two of the US hedge fund's partners onto the board. Elliott, which had criticised the board for its under-performing investments and over-inflating their pay, has in exchange agreed to withdraw its three resolutions proposing new members to be added to the board of Alliance ahead of the companies annual general meeting this week.

Wealth management group St James's Place has posted a 22% increase in funds under management, according to its latest interim statement. Giving details on Tuesday, St James's Place said funds under management had risen to £55.8bn for the three months March end, up 22% from £45.8bn in 2014, and 7% since the beginning of the year.

Market Movers techMARK 3,223.73 -1.35% FTSE 100 7,030.53 -1.03% FTSE 250 17,659.39 -0.70% FTSE 100 - Risers Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) (AAL) 1,129.00p +2.31% Centrica (CNA) 275.30p +2.30% Fresnillo (FRES) 743.00p +2.13% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 555.00p +1.37% BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) (BLT) 1,589.50p +1.31% Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,035.00p +1.00% Glencore (GLEN) 314.90p +0.86% Hargreaves Lansdown (LSE: HL.L - news) (HL (Shenzhen: 002105.SZ - news) .) 1,224.00p +0.74% Smiths Group (Other OTC: SMGKF - news) (SMIN) 1,157.00p +0.70% Old Mutual (Other OTC: ODMTY - news) (OML) 232.00p +0.69% FTSE 100 - Fallers St James's Place (STJ) 875.50p -3.42% AstraZeneca (Swiss: AZN.SW - news) (AZN) 4,548.00p -3.35% Carnival (CCL) 3,056.00p -3.23% Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,080.00p -3.18% Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV.L - news) (BDEV) 520.00p -3.17% Shire Plc (Xetra: S7E.DE - news) (SHP) 5,395.00p -3.14% ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM.L - news) (ARM) 1,156.00p -2.86% Babcock International Group (BAB (Other OTC: BABB - news) ) 995.00p -2.83% Whitbread (WTB) 5,300.00p -2.57% TUI AG Reg Shs (DI (KSE: 003160.KS - news) ) (TUI (LSE: TUI.L - news) ) 1,210.00p -2.26% FTSE 250 - Risers Centamin (DI) (CEY) 62.85p +3.71% Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW.L - news) (TLW) 425.50p +3.70% Acacia Mining (LSE: ACA.L - news) (ACA) 297.00p +3.66% Drax Group (LSE: DRX.L - news) (DRX) 409.40p +3.07% Ophir Energy (Other OTC: OPGYF - news) (OPHR) 170.90p +2.58% AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 915.50p +2.58% Premier Oil (LSE: PMO.L - news) (PMO) 177.10p +2.37% Lonmin (LMI) 147.90p +2.28% Interserve (IRV) 584.00p +2.01% Polymetal International (LSE: POLY.L - news) (POLY) 551.50p +1.94% FTSE 250 - Fallers Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,512.00p -4.30% Pace (PIC) 413.60p -3.54% Man Group (LSE: EMG.L - news) (EMG) 204.00p -3.36% Home Retail Group (HOME) 167.30p -3.29% Greggs (GRG) 1,076.00p -3.15% Synergy Health (LSE: SYR.L - news) (SYR) 2,275.00p -3.11% Allied Minds (Other OTC: ALLWF - news) (ALM) 677.00p -3.01% Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,823.00p -2.98% Bellway (BWY) 1,977.00p -2.71% Smith (DS) (SMDS) 357.50p -2.69%