London midday: HSBC and StanChart ponders transferring HQ outside UK

LONDON (ShareCast) - Stocks were holding modestly higher on Friday at noon amid residual optimism over the Greek debt negotiations and on the coat-tails of overnight gains on Wall Street. Despite the evident deterioration of the country's liquidity position, economists at Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS - news) said they believe Greece can still survive for another month or so without external financial support.

"The government is playing its last cards to stay afloat without defaulting on its obligations, for at least another few weeks." As of 11:54 the yield on 10-year Greek government bonds was falling by seven basis points to 12.26%.

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.

The Financial Times reported on apparent concern in British boardrooms over the more successful than expected opposition put up by Labour party leader Ed Miliband that sees polls unable to point to a clear winner.

Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) has 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 BAE Systems (LSE: BA.L - news) lead early gains HSBC has 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 (Other OTC: SCBFF - news) 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 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 3,259.33 +0.03% FTSE 100 7,077.67 +0.34% FTSE 250 17,743.11 +0.33% FTSE 100 - Risers HSBC Holdings (Xetra: HBC2.DE - news) (HSBA) 630.30p +2.96% BAE Systems (BA.) 518.00p +2.88% Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) (AAL) 1,090.50p +2.68% Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW.L - news) (TW.) 169.80p +2.47% Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,087.50p +2.40% Barclays (Swiss: BARC.SW - news) (BARC) 264.00p +2.15% Glencore (GLEN) 309.25p +1.96% Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV.L - news) (BDEV) 539.50p +1.89% BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) (BLT) 1,560.00p +1.86% CRH (CRH (NYSE: CRH - news) ) 1,886.00p +1.67% FTSE 100 - Fallers AstraZeneca (Swiss: AZN.SW - news) (AZN) 4,666.50p -3.39% Weir Group (WEIR) 1,760.00p -1.29% Hargreaves Lansdown (LSE: HL.L - news) (HL (Shenzhen: 002105.SZ - news) .) 1,188.00p -1.08% Pearson (PSON) 1,387.00p -1.07% Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 482.60p -1.01% Meggitt (MGGT) 544.50p -1.00% Reed Elsevier (REL) 1,118.00p -0.97% Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,357.00p -0.80% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 573.50p -0.78% SABMiller (SAB) 3,548.50p -0.77% FTSE 250 - Risers Kaz Minerals (LSE: KAZ.L - news) (KAZ) 250.80p +6.91% Acacia Mining (LSE: ACA.L - news) (ACA) 291.90p +4.06% Just Retirement Group (JRG) 175.00p +3.73% Greencore Group (LSE: GNC.L - news) (GNC) 351.80p +3.23% Provident Financial (Other OTC: FPLPY - news) (PFG) 3,093.00p +2.76% Vedanta Resources (Other OTC: VDNRF - news) (VED) 625.50p +2.54% Redrow (RDW) 378.90p +2.52% Laird (LRD) 357.90p +2.40% BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 310.50p +2.31% Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 319.00p +2.11% FTSE 250 - Fallers Pace (PIC) 437.00p -2.24% Premier Oil (LSE: PMO.L - news) (PMO) 170.20p -2.07% Telecom Plus (LSE: TEP.L - news) (TEP) 809.50p -1.88% Rotork (Stuttgart: RO4.SG - news) (ROR) 2,385.00p -1.85% Petra Diamonds Ltd (LSE: PDL.L - news) .(DI (KSE: 003160.KS - news) ) (PDL) 164.90p -1.73% Playtech (PTEC) 821.50p -1.62% Merlin Entertainments (LSE: MERL.L - news) (MERL) 446.70p -1.59% TR Property Inv Trust (TRY) 309.10p -1.53% IP Group (LSE: IPO.L - news) (IPO) 216.50p -1.41% Beazley (BEZ (Shanghai: 600658.SS - news) ) 283.20p -1.36%