Market overview: Stocks fall back slightly ahead of Greek meetings

LONDON (ShareCast) - 1630:Close UK stocks have finished slightly lower, weighed down by investors´ nerves ahead of this evening´s meeting of Greece´s political leadership and conflicting reports on how far the European Central Bank is willing to go in helping the country. Leading gains on the top share index was consumer goods heavy-weight Reckitt Benckiser (LSE: RB.L - news) following a set of full year results that were met with flattering comments from some analysts. Out on the broader market, in the FTSE 350, Supergroup (LSE: SGP.L - news) and Homeserve (Dusseldorf: XHSA.DU - news) registered the biggest losses after providing lower than expected guidance to their respective shareholders. Back in the Footsie (FTSE: ^FTSE - news) , International Power (EUREX: IPRF.EX - news) fell after telling investors that it may not meet its 2013 earnings target because of a drop in hydro generation prices in Brazil. Sage moved lower after going ex-dividend. BHP retreated after announcing its first drop in net profits since 2009. FTSE 100 (Euronext: VFTSE.NX - news) down 14 to 5,876. 1550: Buying has picked up with the meeting between the three Greek party leaders (George Papandreou, Antonis Samaras and George Karatzaferis) now underway. According to the Telegraph, ratings agency Standard & Poor's is to downgrade its rating on Greece to 'selective default' as negotiations over a debt swap continue. The paper says that the rating would then be upgraded after a deal has been done. FTSE 100 up 6 at 5,896. 1355: The FTSE 100 is now flat at 5,891 despite US stock futures pointing to a positive start on Wall Street. Utilities (Santiago: UTILITIES.SN - news) stocks were out of favour with International Power leading the decline after saying that growth in 2012 will be affected by contracts rolling off in North American and fewer expected liquefied natural gas diversions. GlaxoSmithKline (Other OTC: GLAXF.PK - news) was also in the red following yesterday's full-year results, with Credit Suisse (NYSEArca: CSMA - news) making a 4% reduction to its 2012 EPS forecasts for the pharmaceuticals firm this morning. 1357: Positive research note today on UK banks from analysts at Citi, who have written the following to clients: "UK economy needs to de-lever (...) but bank share prices are one step ahead. Private sector de-leveraging is to the detriment of bank earnings. However, share prices usually move in anticipation of the event. Observation of previous financial crises suggests that bank share prices usually trough only 1-2 years after the peak in loans and 3-5 years before the deleveraging process completes. UK bank lending peaked in December 2009." Citi has also reiterated its buy ratings on Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) , Lloyds, HSBC (LSE: HSBA.L - news) and Standard Chartered (Xetra: 859123 - news) (although it is now no longer on its 'most preferred list'). RBS (LSE: RBS.L - news) has been downgraded to neutral from buy. FTSE 100 flat at 5,890. 1126: There's some big movers of the FTSE 250 (FTSE: ^FTMC - news) who are dragging the second-tier index into the red, with SuperGroup, HomeServe and Misys (Xetra: 944235.DE - news) weighing heavily. SuperGroup is down 18% after warning that full-year profits would be at the lower end of expectations after subdued January sales. HomeServe has fallen 11% after it announced 200 jobs cuts as customer numbers continue to fall on the back of delays recommencing its telesales activities. Meanwhile, Misys is down 7% after its CEO Mike Lawrie received a better offer of employment from a third party - he is due to leave next month. The FTSE 100, however, is faring slightly better with Reckitt Benckiser, banking and mining stocks providing a lift. FTSE 100 is up 16 points at 5,906. 1006: According to Greek TV Skai today´s meeting between the Greek Prime Minister and the leaders of the country´s main political parties will take place at 1pm. Of interest, Ivanhoe´s chairman is being cited as having said that Anglo American (Berlin: NGLB.BE - news) is a takeover target following the merger between Glencore and Xstrata (Dusseldorf: XTR.DU - news) . FTSE up 10 to 5,900. 0904: Footsie has ambled higher in early trading, boosted by support for the banks as Greek politicians reportedly close in on agreeing a debt deal. As well, there are reports that China may eventually contribute €100bn to a Eurozone ´firewall´. Household products maker Reckitt Benckiser has cheered the market with its results and strategic overview, but power generator International Power's update was deemed a low-wattage affair. Mining (Euronext: SMI.NX - news) giant BHP Billiton (Hamburg: BHP1.HM - news) , for its part, is trading little changed following its interim results. Analysts at Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) have downgraded shares of British Petroleum (LSE: BP.L - news) to hold from buy. FTSE 100 up 18 at 5,908.