London close: Stocks higher as focus shifts towards Greece

LONDON (ShareCast) - UK equities registered slight gains as traders digested the policy announcement issued by the US Federal Reserve overnight and despite the renewed tensions evident in Greek funding markets. The Footsie ended the day 17 points higher at 6,962.32, with some effects from Wednesday's Budget from Chancellor George Osborne also still filtering through.

As expected, the US central bank yesterday omitted any reference to being "patient" when starting to tighten interest rates, but the 17 members of the Federal Open Market Committee nearly halved their median projection for the level of the Fed funds rate at year-end 2015 to 0.625%.

Investors were focusing on Thursday's summit of European Union heads of government and the news-flow surrounding the negotiations with Greece.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Greek government bond sprinted 104 basis points higher to 12.14%.

That was despite reports earlier in the day that the European Central Bank had opposed forbidding Greek lenders from purchasing short-term government securities.

Some market reports cited sources according to whom the daily outflows of Greek deposits had reached one-month highs.

Against analysts' predictions Norway's central bank maintained its deposit rate at 1.25%, instead of reducing it by 25 basis points. Nonetheless, the monetary authority clearly signalled that it will soon be lowering its key rate further, analysts at Capital Economics said.

Earlier in the day Switzerland's central bank, the SNB, kept its target range for the three-month Libor unchanged, at between -1.25% and -0.25%, as expected. However, the SNB cautioned that it could cut rates further or intervene in foreign exchange markets, if necessary, to curb strength in the swiss franc's value.

Next (Other OTC: NXGPF - news) drops after full-year profits UK clothing retailer Next grew its underlying pre-tax profit by 12.5% last year as overall sales rose by 7.2%. The company said its share buyback scheme meant that underlying EPS grew by 14.7% and dividends for the full year will increase by 16.3%, to 150p.

Auto Trader Group , the UK car classified ad company on Thursday priced 590m shares at 235p/share in its initial public offering in the London market. The company is raising £437m of net proceeds in the offer with its private equity owner, Apax expected to raise around £926.2m out of the flotation. As of 12:18 the shares were changing hands at 268.75p.

Chip designer ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM.L - news) 's market share in servers may reach 20% by 2020, versus less than 1% at present, the company has reportedly said. The London-listed outfit was scheduled to make a presentation at today's Bank of America Merrill Lynch Technology & Beyond Conference, in Taiwan.

Electronics components distributor Premier Farnell (LSE: PFL.L - news) reported adjusted profits before tax down 3% to reach £74m in 2014 but maintained its full-year dividend pay-out at 10.4p. That came on the back of a 0.8% fall in full-year revenues to £960.1m. However, the company's operating margins declined by less than forecast by analysts, slipping by 40 basis points, to 9.2%. The analyst consensus was for margins of 9%. Earnings per share (EPS) on an adjusted basis came in at 13.8p, down 3.5% from the prior year but ahead of the 13.5p which analysts had pencilled in.

AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN - news) has signed an agreement with Japanese-headquartered company Daiichi Sankyo to jointly commercialise a new drug called Movantik, an oral treatment for opioid-induced constipation in adults with chronic non-cancer pain. No longer labelled a controlled substance by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, its launch has been scheduled to take place early in April 2015.

Savills (Other OTC: SVLPF - news) reported a 21% increase in pre-tax profit to £84.7m, as revenue rose 19% to £1.08bn driven by a 38% increase in transaction advisory revenue, which the company attributed to the performance of the Savills Studley business in the US, strong performances in Asia and the UK and recovery in some European markets.

Market Movers techMARK 3,254.47 +0.15% FTSE 100 6,962.32 +0.25% FTSE 250 17,438.15 +0.43% FTSE 100 - Risers Fresnillo (FRES) 679.00p +5.43% Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,826.00p +3.23% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 531.50p +3.10% Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW.L - news) (TLW) 309.60p +2.25% Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO.L - news) (ANTO) 695.00p +1.98% Aviva (AV.) 566.00p +1.89% BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) (BLT) 1,485.50p +1.89% Kingfisher (KGF) 374.40p +1.88% Friends Life Group Limited (FLG) 432.10p +1.86% GKN (GKN (LSE: GKN.L - news) ) 375.10p +1.74% FTSE 100 - Fallers Next (EUREX: NXTI.EX - news) (NXT) 7,315.00p -4.00% British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS.L - news) (BATS) 3,668.00p -3.37% TUI AG Reg Shs (DI (KSE: 003160.KS - news) ) (TUI (LSE: TUI.L - news) ) 1,181.00p -2.24% Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) (AAL) 1,046.00p -2.20% Meggitt (MGGT) 577.50p -1.70% Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,155.00p -1.44% Hargreaves Lansdown (LSE: HL.L - news) (HL.) 1,189.00p -1.41% Admiral Group (LSE: ADM.L - news) (ADM) 1,518.00p -1.24% St James's Place (STJ) 966.50p -1.18% CRH (CRH (NYSE: CRH - news) ) 1,751.00p -1.13% FTSE 250 - Risers Soco International (LSE: SIA.L - news) (SIA (SES: E1:C6L.SI - news) ) 160.10p +8.25% Premier Oil (LSE: PMO.L - news) (PMO) 146.70p +8.03% Indivior (Berlin: 2IV.BE - news) (INDV) 201.90p +5.98% Acacia Mining (Other OTC: ABGLF - news) (ACA) 248.00p +5.58% Afren (AFR) 3.31p +5.28% Supergroup (SGP) 918.50p +5.15% Renishaw (RSW) 2,588.00p +4.65% Centamin (DI) (CEY) 53.70p +4.07% Evraz (EVR) 195.20p +3.77% Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 441.00p +3.72% FTSE 250 - Fallers Brit (BRIT (LSE: BRIT.L - news) ) 278.50p -8.60% Lancashire Holdings Limited (Other OTC: LCSHF - news) (LRE) 632.50p -6.92% Hiscox Ltd (CDI) (HSX) 805.00p -5.07% Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 412.80p -3.12% Jimmy Choo (LSE: CHOO.L - news) (CHOO) 170.00p -2.86% Ted Baker (TED) 2,746.00p -2.52% Serco Group (Other OTC: SECCF - news) (SRP) 170.60p -2.29% FirstGroup (FGP (BSE: FGP.BO - news) ) 92.95p -2.05% Ladbrokes (LAD) 111.20p -2.03% Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 1,049.00p -1.96%