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UK: Greek default fears rattle markets
 
(Update) Markets have fallen further into the red in the afternoon's trading, as fears over a Greek default have grown amid reports the country approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) asking to delay repayments.

The FTSE 100 fell 27 points, or 0.4%, to 7,070, with even the elevated Brent crude price failing to push the oil-heavy index into positive territory. Oil was trading at $62.61 a barrel.

Losses were deeper across other European markets. The German DAX 30 fell 1.7%, Italy's FTSE MIB was down 1.5%, Spain's Ibex dropped 1.3% and France's CAC 40 traded 0.6% lower.

According to the Financial Times, Greek attempts to delay repayments to the IMF, which is owed almost €1 billion (£720 million) in two separate payments next month, were rebuffed.

The news reignited fears of a Greek default on payments, and sent yields on its 10-year government bonds to 12.4%, up from 11.4%.

US markets opened in the red against the backdrop of another bout of disappointing data, placing a question mark over the performance of the world's largest economy. Unemployment claims rose unexpectedly, by 12,000 to 294,000 last week, while the number of new house-building projects rose by only 2% year-on-year in March, a lower rise than had been expected.

'This suggests that we might be wasting our time holding out for an April bounce,' said Rob Carnell, economist at ING. 'The June rate hike scenario seems dead and buried. But a continuation of data like this means that even September cannot be taken for granted unless we see a marked firming in the numbers.'

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones indices both fell 0.2%, while the dollar tumbled, pushing the pound towards the $1.50 mark to trade at $1.492.

On the FTSE 100, the oil rally helped energy stocks add to gains. Shell (RDSb +
) rose 1.4% to £21.51 and BG (BG +
) was up 1.3% at £12.02.

Simon Gergel, manager of the Merchants (MRCH +
) investment trust, was meanwhile celebrating a 5.6% rise in Mothercare (MTC +
) shares to 223.7p after the baby goods retailer posted a 5.1% rise in fourth quarter sales.

'Mothercare’s trading statement today demonstrates progress on the management’s strategy to turn around the UK business whilst continuing to grow the high quality international franchise operation,' he said.

'The UK business has moved back into growth in the last 11 weeks, despite a reduced number of stores, with a lower level of promotions and discounting helping margins. Mothercare is seeing particularly strong growth online and this now makes up 30% of UK sales.'
(10:52) The FTSE 100 has dipped from all-time highs despite an overnight surge in the oil price sending energy stocks higher.

The UK blue-chip index fell five points, or 0.1%, to 7,092. The price of Brent crude last night smashed through the $60 mark on news of a slowing in US inventories.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude is now $62.65, up from $59.75 as the UK stock market closed yesterday.

Weir (WEIR +
) which makes pumps and valves for the oil sector, rose 1.2% to £19.27, while Shell (RDSb +
) was up 0.8% at £21.40, BP (BP +
) added 0.6% to trade at 478.4p and BG (BG +
) edged 0.4% higher to £11.91.

Precious metal miners also rose after the price of gold moved through the $1,200 mark to trade at $1,204.82. 'The yellow metal is in a volatile uptrend since hitting 2015 lows around $1,145 in March,' said Augustin Eden at Accendo Markets.

Fresnillo (FRES +
) rose 2.9% to 759.5p while Randgold Resources (RRS +
) was up 2.2% at £50.95.

Commodities were also supported by dollar weakness after disappointing US industrial data yesterday. The dollar has regained some poise against sterling since yesterday's slump, with a pound buying $1.484.

The remainder of the FTSE 100's mining contingent rose as a result. BHP Billiton (BLT +
) gained 1.4% to £14.92, Glencore (GLEN +
) traded 1.4% higher at £14.92 and Antofagasta (ANTO +
) edged 0.5% up at 754.5p.

It was a mixed day for Finsbury Growth & Income manager Nick Train, as his top holding Unilever rose to the top of the index but two of his other favourite stocks, Pearson and Diageo, fell into the red.

Unilever (ULVR +
) rose 4.3% to £30.61 after the consumer staples company reported better-than-expected sales for the first quarter, recovering from last year's weak emerging markets performance.

Educational publisher Pearson (PSON +
) was among the worst performers on the index, down 3.6% at £13.75, as the shares continued to succumb to a sell-off following a strong run.

Diageo (DGE +
) dropped 2.1% to £19.27 after the spirits maker reported slower quarterly trading.

Finsbury Growth & Income (FGT +
) shed a penny to trade at 605.2p.

On the FTSE 250, shares in Telecom Plus (TEP +
) crashed 19% to 792.9p after the utility company said it would write down £11 million of unrecoverable bills as it issued a profit warning.

Debenhams (DEB +
) rose 5.4% to 83.9p after surprising with £88.9 million of profits in the first half of its financial year.

Source