Market overview: Eurogroup express frustration with Greek leadership

LONDON (ShareCast) - 1140: Greek default probability has jumped as Greek finance minister Yannis Varoufakis was reported as having taken a hammering from frustrated EU counterparts. Finance chiefs in the Eurogroup said Varoufakis's handling of the talks was irresponsible and accused him of being "a time-waster, a gambler and an amateur", a source cited by Bloomberg said. Going into talks on Friday, the group of 19 finance ministers have become increasingly frustrated over Athens' attempt to bypass the group with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras making a direct appeal to Germany leader Angela Merkel. 1029: Commenting on today's IFO index Berenberg Bank´s Holger Schmieding says that although recent soft readings on economic activity in the US and China, together with the noise from Greece, are probably weighing a little on business expectations, cheap oil and the recent 12% depreciation in the trade weighted euro exchange rate relative to the 201-14 average are strong enough to let Germany - and other economies in Europe - overcome the occassional hiccups in the increasingly well-entrenched recovery in the Eurozone.

0930: HSBC is rising quickly after the chairman said he is launching an immediate review of the location of the group´s headquarters.

0915: UK shares have begun the morning higher led by gains in HSBC after the group's chairman announced it would immediately begin to review the possibility of moving its headquarters away form the UK. AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN - news) was the main laggard on the top flight index despite saying sales fell by 6% in the first quarter, which was slightly less-than-expected. 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. In parallel, 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. FTSE 100 up 27.33 to 7,0780.81.