London open: Cairn, financials weigh on Footsie

LONDON (ShareCast) - UK stocks fell in early trading on Tuesday, giving up some gains made yesterday, as talks in Greece continue to drag on. Despite banks and other private institutions represented by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) having presented yesterday what they considered to be their "maximum offer that is consistent with the voluntary debt exchange", Eurozone finance ministers could not be coerced to sign off on the proposal for Greek debt and responded with a resounding "no". According to Barclays Capital analyst Cagdas Aksu, "it seems the negotiations are stuck mainly around the coupon of the new bonds, with the Greek government offering 3.5% while the private investors want at least a 4% coupon." The Eurogroup members that met yesterday in Brussels decided to back Athens. Its (Euronext: ALITS.NX - news) president, Jean-Claude Juncker, agreed that the Greek coupons need to be below 3.5% for the debt to be paid up to 2020 and that it should be below 4% for the full 30 year life of the bonds. CAIRN & FINANCIALS DRAG FTSE 100 LOWER Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE.L - news) has withdrawn its proposal to give its non-executive Chairman, Sir Bill Gammell, share options worth £2.5m. The award was first suggested in a circular to shareholders on January 10th as part of Sir Bill's reward package for securing the sale of a controlling stake in Cairn India last year to Vedanta Resources (EUREX: VR9F.EX - news) for $5.5bn. In an announcement today, however, Cairn says institutional shareholders have opposed the award. Financials (Euronext: IXEFI.NX - news) were out of favour with Ashmore (LSE: ASHM.L - news) , Hargreaves Lansdown, Man Group (LSE: EMG.L - news) , Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) falling early on. Old Mutual (LSE: OML.L - news) fell after announcing its intention to combine much of its European savings business due to economic and regulatory changes. India-focused integrated energy company Essar Energy (Dusseldorf: 11224817.DU - news) was the high riser of the morning after saying on Monday that it had increased its best estimate contingent resources at the Raniganj coal bed methane exploration block. Shares rose over 10% yesterday. Meanwhile, utilities were dominant among the risers. Sector peers International Power (EUREX: IPRF.EX - news) , SSE (Frankfurt: A0RFBG - news) , National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) , United Utilities, Centrica (LSE: CNA.L - news) and Severn Trent (Stuttgart: A0LBHG - news) were nudging higher. Accountancy software group Sage underwhelmed investors after saying that trading since the beginning of October has been in line with expectations. Land Securities was also lower after Chief Executive Officer Francis Salway is to hand over to Robert Noel, currently Managing Director of the London Portfolio. FTSE 250 MOVERS: CHEMRING & MINERS SOLD OFF Military equipment maker Chemring was the heavy faller after its Chairman said that the "continuing problems of the Eurozone and the impact of possible sequestration in the US indicate that our traditional markets will not be any easier this year". Nevertheless, the firm saw an improvement in full-year underlying profit and revenue. Miner Allied Gold (Toronto: ALG.TO - news) fell despite saying it aims to up production by 75% in 2012 as it improves recovery methods and efficiency. Sector peers New World Resources, Talvivaara and African Barrick Gold were also among the worst performers early on. PZ Cussons (LSE: PZC.L - news) , the 'Imperial Leather' soap maker, warned that full-year profits will be at the lower end of market expectations, as it struggles with problems largely beyond its control, including civil unrest in Nigeria, its largest market. BC FTSE 100 (Euronext: VFTSE.NX - news) - Risers Essar Energy (ESSR) 139.60p +2.95% Weir Group (Other OTC: WEIGF.PK - news) (WEIR) 1,919.00p +1.86% International Power (IPR) 322.30p +0.62% SSE (SSE) 1,243.00p +0.57% National Grid (NG.) 617.50p +0.57% United Utilities Group (UU.) 597.00p +0.51% Centrica (CNA) 283.20p +0.28% Polymetal International (POLY) 1,101.00p +0.27% Severn Trent (SVT) 1,521.00p +0.26% Tesco (LSE: TSCO.L - news) (TSCO) 335.80p +0.24% FTSE 100 - Fallers Ashmore Group (ASHM) 350.70p -3.55% Cairn Energy (CNE) 284.00p -2.81% Hargreaves Lansdown (HL (Shenzhen: 002105.SZ - news) .) 436.00p -2.31% Barclays (BARC) 218.30p -1.95% Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 27.65p -1.74% Kazakhmys (Munich: A0HFWR - news) (KAZ) 1,114.00p -1.68% Evraz (EVR) 432.00p -1.37% BHP Billiton (Hamburg: BHP1.HM - news) (BLT) 2,131.00p -1.30% Pearson (EUREX: PSOF.EX - news) (PSON) 1,220.00p -1.29% GKN (Xetra: 694194 - news) (GKN (LSE: GKN.L - news) ) 211.70p -1.26% FTSE 250 (FTSE: ^FTMC - news) - Risers Hansteen Holdings (Berlin: H9H.BE - news) (HSTN) 79.95p +4.92% F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 67.40p +3.22% Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 607.50p +2.62% Rathbone Brothers (LSE: RAT.L - news) (RAT) 1,141.00p +2.52% Carpetright (Xetra: 904879 - news) (CPR) 619.50p +2.06% Unite Group (Munich: 634811 - news) (UTG (OTC BB: UTGN.OB - news) ) 177.90p +1.37% Shanks Group (Other OTC: SHMCF.PK - news) (SKS) 101.00p +1.35% Cape (LSE: CIU.L - news) (CIU) 394.90p +1.26% Anglo Pacific Group (Other OTC: AGPIF.PK - news) (APF) 291.30p +1.08% Kier Group (LSE: KIE.L - news) (KIE) 1,388.00p +1.02% FTSE 250 - Fallers Chemring Group (CHG) 424.00p -5.57% New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 447.30p -4.83% Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 22.90p -4.18% PZ Cussons (PZC) 299.30p -3.76% Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,247.00p -3.11% Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 348.70p -2.90% Logica (Amsterdam: LC.AS - news) (LOG (Xetra: A0B9YJ - news) ) 79.80p -2.33% African Barrick Gold (ABG) 459.50p -2.25% Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 155.10p -2.21% Electrocomponents (Xetra: 862727 - news) (ECM) 214.10p -2.19%