London close: HSBC and miners lead gains

LONDON (ShareCast) - UK stocks ended the session higher, tracking gains on the other side of the Atlantic despite the somewhat mixed newsflow coming out of Greece. Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was urged to speed up progress on a list of economic reforms required to appease creditors in order to unlock further aid.

During a meeting of Eurozone finance ministers in Riga, Varoufakis was branded irresponsible and accused of being "a time-waster, a gambler and an amateur", according to a source cited by Bloomberg.

The FTSE 100 ended the session 17.03 points higher at 7,070.70, while the yield on the benchmark 10-year Greek bond was unchanged at 12.58%.

HSBC was the standout gainer on news that the lender was studying the possibility of transferring its headquarters to outside the UK. However, as a sector it was nminers which did best as copper prices rebounded on the back of weak inventory numbers and a softer US dollar. On a similarly upbeat note, Germany's IFO business confidence index rose to a reading of 108.6 in April after a print of 107.9 in the month before. That was slightly ahead of the consensus estimate of 108.4.

Overnight, Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) increased its forecast for the average price of Brent in the second quarter by $6.67 to $58 a barrel and for the full-year to $4.33 to reach $59.54 - as the rebalancing in the US 'tight-oil' industry begins.

HSBC and Standard Chartered (Other OTC: SCBFF - news) lead early gains HSBC launched an immediate review of its UK domicile due to the changing regulatory landscape, the group's chairman said in comments before the bank's general meeting. These comments were "laced with politics and carefully timed ahead of the general election", the Times noted.

A spokesman from Standard Chartered said the lender was "listening very carefully" to shareholders about if it should relocate its headquarters outside the country after the latest hike in the UK's bank levy.

After receiving some takeover interest, BAE Systems (LSE: BA.L - news) confirmed it was pondering a disposal of its US-based manpower and services businesses, which operates in the US intelligence and security sector.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in publishing and education group Pearson (Xetra: 858266 - news) were lower despite the company saying it was in-line to meet its full-year expectations after a solid start to the year. The firm also reiterated its full-year guidance for adjusted earnings per share of between 75p and 80p this year, up from 66.7 in 2014. However, the group's chairman announced he would be stepping down.

Astrazeneca (NYSE: AZN - news) is the worst performer on the the Footsie in the early going as sales fell by 6% in the first quarter, which was slightly less-than-expected. The pharmaceutical giant's trading was negatively impacted by the launch of a generic version of its acid pill Nexium Stateside.

Aberdeen Asset Management (Other OTC: ABDNF - news) was downgraded by analysts at Bank of America (Swiss: BAC.SW - news) -Merrill Lynch to 'underperform'.

First (Other OTC: FSTC - news) -quarter numbers from Reckitt Benckiser (Xetra: A0M1W6 - news) were better than the market expected, with like-for-like sales from the household goods behemoth up 5% thanks to strong growth from consumer health brands such as Nurofen, Gaviscon and Durex.

The state has lowered its stake in Lloyds by 1% to 20.95%, the lender told the market in a statement.

Market Movers techMARK 3,265.77 +0.23% FTSE 100 7,070.70 +0.24% FTSE 250 17,729.36 +0.25% FTSE 100 - Risers HSBC Holdings (Xetra: HBC2.DE - news) (HSBA) 629.70p +2.86% Glencore (GLEN) 311.20p +2.60% CRH (CRH (NYSE: CRH - news) ) 1,900.00p +2.43% Mondi (MNDI) 1,354.00p +2.42% BAE Systems (BA.) 515.00p +2.28% Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV.L - news) (BDEV) 541.00p +2.17% BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) (BLT) 1,564.00p +2.12% Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW.L - news) (TW.) 169.20p +2.11% National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) (NG.) 906.10p +1.95% United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,003.00p +1.88% FTSE 100 - Fallers Pearson (PSON) 1,360.00p -3.00% Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 473.60p -2.85% Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,950.00p -1.69% Hargreaves Lansdown (LSE: HL.L - news) (HL (Shenzhen: 002105.SZ - news) .) 1,181.00p -1.67% AstraZeneca (Swiss: AZN.SW - news) (AZN) 4,749.50p -1.67% Weir Group (WEIR) 1,755.00p -1.57% Admiral Group (LSE: ADM.L - news) (ADM) 1,581.00p -1.25% Royal Dutch Shell (Xetra: R6C1.DE - news) 'A' (RDSA) 2,066.00p -1.22% St James's Place (STJ) 896.50p -1.21% BP (BP.) 478.40p -1.19% FTSE 250 - Risers Kaz Minerals (LSE: KAZ.L - news) (KAZ) 253.40p +8.01% Cable & Wireless Communications (LSE: CWC.L - news) (CWC) 69.60p +4.43% Diploma (DPLM) 822.50p +4.31% Acacia Mining (LSE: ACA.L - news) (ACA) 292.30p +4.21% Just Retirement Group (JRG) 175.00p +3.73% Vedanta Resources (Other OTC: VDNRF - news) (VED) 631.50p +3.52% Greencore Group (LSE: GNC.L - news) (GNC) 351.50p +3.14% JD Sports Fashion (LSE: JD.L - news) (JD.) 583.00p +2.91% Redrow (RDW) 379.10p +2.57% Ocado Group (Other OTC: OCDGF - news) (OCDO) 342.20p +2.52% FTSE 250 - Fallers Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,880.00p -3.98% Petra Diamonds Ltd (LSE: PDL.L - news) .(DI (KSE: 003160.KS - news) ) (PDL) 161.80p -3.58% Hunting (HTG) 582.00p -3.32% IP Group (LSE: IPO.L - news) (IPO) 212.90p -3.05% Premier Oil (LSE: PMO.L - news) (PMO) 168.70p -2.93% Pace (PIC) 436.00p -2.46% Rotork (Stuttgart: RO4.SG - news) (ROR) 2,376.00p -2.22% Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 449.30p -2.13% Man Group (LSE: EMG.L - news) (EMG) 208.70p -2.11% Beazley (BEZ (Shanghai: 600658.SS - news) ) 281.80p -1.85%