Market Report

17:10 - After briefly holding its head above water, the FTSE 100 (UKX) closed Wednesday in the red.

The blue-chip index ended at 5405.25, down 32.37 points.

Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) shoved aside Croda International (CRDA) to take the top spot, up 3.5%, while Fresnillo (FRES) slipped more than 4%.

On the AIM front, Kellan Group (KLN) soared 42%, while PLUS Markets Group (PMK) slid 28.5%.

Lamprell (LAM) was the most actively-traded stock by the users of Interactive Investor.

European markets fought back somewhat from an early-morning hiding, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's comments about wanting Greece to stick around lifting both the equities and the euro off early lows.

According to reports, Greece still wants to remain in the euro, but clearly on its own terms, which Greek ministers cannot seem to agree on themselves.

"So, Greece's exit from the euro is still being anticipated by financial institutions across the globe. ICAP (88FV) for example... outlined the fact [it] already [has its] systems ready for 'drachma-based securities' just in case," pointed out Will Hedden, sales trader at IG Index.

At a glance...

Commodities

Gold: $1,546.67

WTI crude oil: $92.94

Currencies

GBP/USD: 1.5927

GBP/EUR: 1.2515

EUR/USD: 1.2728

All changes from 09:00 BST.

16:50 - Wall Street remained in the black on Wednesday as better-than-anticipated domestic data offset eurozone concerns.

Scaling back from an 80-plus point advance, the Dow Jones was 23 points ahead at 12655 while the S&P 500 added three points to 1334 with industrials the best performer of its 10 major sectors. The Nasdaq remained flat at 2894.

16:30 - Angel Biotechnology (ABH) has signed a new contract with ReNeuron Group (RENE) for an undisclosed amount.

Angel will perform GMP manufacturing services in support of the final part of the PISCES phase 1 clinical trial of ReNeuron's ReN001 stem cell therapy for stroke.

16:15 - Overall trading and performance was "as expected" at bwin.party (BPTY) in the first quarter.

Total revenue was up 1% at €215.9 million (£172.7 million) with strong growth in casino and other games as well as other revenues, partially offset by a softer gross win margin in sports betting

Amounts wagered in sports betting were up 11% to €1.083 billion, while net gaming revenue fell 1% to €70.6 million due to exceptionally high margins in the prior year and higher bonus costs.

Analysts at Panmure Gordon reiterated their 'buy' stance on the stock.

16:00 - International Public Partnerships' (INPP) portfolio of 119 public infrastructure investments arising from 69 separate projects continued to perform in line with expectations.

The company said highlights so far this year included the completion of construction at South Bristol Community Hospital and the £35 million Moray School project, which replaced the existing facilities at Keith Primary and Elgin Academy.

It added that a continued strong pipeline of exciting opportunities existde in UK, Australia, and Europe across a variety of infrastructure sectors.

15:45 - Perform Group (PER) said it plans to buy RunningBall Holding, a real-time sports data provider, to be effected through the acquisition by a wholly-owned subsidiary of RunningBall's two immediate holding companies, for a minimum consideration of €101 million (c. £81 million) and a maximum consideration of €120 million.

The initial consideration of €70 million will consist of €20 million in cash, financed from existing cash resources, and €50 million in the form of 13.5 million new ordinary shares in the company that will be issued to the sellers.

15:30 - Production in the first four months of the year soared 358% at SOCO International (SIA) after an average 11,690 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) net to the company’s working interest.

Entitlements production equalled 13,924 boepd and was on track to meet the c. 16,000 boepd guidance for the full year

Net cash at 15 May 2012 stood at $181.8 million (£114.1 million), up from $113.5 million the previous year.

15:15 - Revenue at New World Resources (NWR) dropped by €38 million (£30 million) in the first quarter, weighed down by lower income from thermal coal and coke.

Reduced decline in inventories, together with broadly flat operating expenses, resulted in EBITDA of €54 million for the period compared to the previous year.

Net financial expenses decreased by 89% to €3 million reflecting a lower net foreign exchange loss, and higher net profit on derivatives revaluation.

As a result, pre-tax profit was €8 million, 27% below the level in the same period of 2011.

15:00 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) narrowed its losses as Wednesday wore on, trading at 5430, eight points lower.

Croda International (CRDA) jumped up almost 4%, while Sainsbury (SBRY) slipped by the same percentage.

On the AIM front, shares in Ffastfill (FFA) lost about two-thirds of their value, while Arden Partners (ARDN) climbed more than 16%.

At a glance...

Commodities

Gold: $1,547.19

WTI crude oil: $92.91

Currencies

GBP/USD: 1.5937

GBP/EUR: 1.2502

EUR/USD: 1.2748

All changes from 09:00 BST.

14:50 - There was an optimistic start to trading on Wall Street after economic reports yielded better-than-anticipated results on industrial production and the housing industry.

Social media shares were also flying ahead of the gargantuan Facebook (FB) IPO, with LinkedIn (LNKD), Yelp (YELP) and Groupon (GRPN) higher.

The Dow Jones climbed 34 points to 12666, while the S&P 500 added five points to 1336 and the Nasdaq was seven points ahead at 2901.

14:35 - Housebuilder Bovis Homes (BVS) said it expects significant profits growth after private net reservations rose by a third in the 19 weeks to 11 May.

An increase in private net reservations was driven by a 23% rise in the average number of active sales outlets to 82 and a 9% improvement in the sales rate per sales outlet, with an average private sales rate of 0.50 net reservations per week per sales outlet, up from 0.46 last year.

Analysts at Panmure Gordon said: “We are maintaining our full year forecasts and ‘hold’ recommendation but we expect consensus forecasts to move up to our numbers. Target price 490p.”

14:20 - Oil and gas engineering firm Lamprell (LAM) became one of the most-bought shares on Interactive Investor after the price plummeted more than 60% on the company’s performance warning.

Lamprell said its performance is being severely hampered by the paucity of specialised jack-up rig components. The group said it will probably make a small loss in the first half of the year, though a recovery is expected in the second half.

Full year revenue is expected to be broadly in line with the previous year at $1.1 00 billion with a net profit margin of around 3.5%, considerably below the board's expectations for the year.

14:05- Pre-tax profit at Land Securities (LAND) more than halved to £515.7 million in the year to 31 March from £1.227.3 billion the year before.

Even so, revenue profit climbed 9.0% to £299.4 million and the full-year dividend had a 2.8% boost to 29p.

Looking ahead, chief executive Robert Noel said: "Despite economic uncertainty impacting the second half of the year, we have maintained our focus, building on our strength and our proposition. The outlook remains uncertain but we will continue to use the competitive advantage offered by our financial resources to deliver on our plans and exploit opportunities as they arise."

13:50 - Shares in FTSE 250-listed miner African Barrick Gold (ABG) stumbled on Wednesday as the company announced it had increased its royalty payment to the Tanzanian government by an additional voluntary 1% on top of the 3% rate stipulated in the firm's mineral development agreement.

The increase was the result of the current gold price as well as an indication of the company's commitment to Tanzania.

"This decision to pay an additional voluntary royalty payment is an important step for ABG and one we have taken after careful consideration. As our results over the last two years have shown, the business is delivering strong financial returns given the strength in the gold price and it is important that our broader stakeholder base see the benefit of that," explained chief executive Greg Hawkins.

13:30 - Building materials giant CRH (CRH) has transferred its 49% shareholding in Portuguese cement producer Secil to former joint venture partner Semapa.

The transfer follows a call option exercised by Semapa and confirmed by an award issued by an arbitral tribunal in Paris, functioning under the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, at a valuation of €574 million (£458.7 million).

The net proceeds received by CRH amounted to €564.5 million and reflected the valuation set by the arbitral tribunal as adjusted for legal costs awarded to Semapa and other amounts due to Semapa by CRH.

13:15 - The Bank of England's quarterly inflation report did not give a strong indication either way as to whether more quantitative easing would occur after the Monetary Policy Committee brought it to at least a temporary halt at their May meeting.

The report contained the risk of reduced GDP growth, but also raised consumer price inflation forecasts in the near term.

However, the outlook for interest rates appeared to be clearer. According to Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, interest rates looked set to remain at their current level of 0.5% until at least late-2013 and very possibly into 2014, given "the fragility of the economy and the need to counter extended tight fiscal policy".

13:00 - Energy giant SSE (SSE) reported adjusted pre-tax profit up 2% to £1.335 billion in the year to end-March and increased its dividend by 6.8% to 80.1p.

Operating profit at the company rose 6.7% to £737.1 million, although retail operating profit dropped 19.7% to £321.6 million.

Total energy customer accounts (GB and Ireland) were down 100,000 to 9.55 million. The company has an agreement to acquire 130,000 customers in NI from Phoenix Holdings.

12:45 - The latest UK labour market data showed unemployment was falling but pay growth remained exceptionally weak.

The widest International Labour Organisation measure of unemployment dropped by 45,000 in the three months to March, while the claimant count dropped by 13,700 in April, the biggest fall since July 2010. March's rise in the claimant count was also revised to a fall.

However, the annual rate of average earnings growth dropped from 1.3% to just 0.1% in March, partly reflecting the weak bonus season underway. Excluding bonuses, pay growth was stronger at 2%. However, this was still well below the latest inflation rate of 3.5%.

"So taking all the news together, the labour market is still not very supportive of a consumer recovery. And the very weak rates of pay growth remain a clear reason to expect inflation to fall back to low rates," commented Vicky Redwood, chief UK economist at Capital Economics.

12:30 - Continental Coal (COOL), Ferrex (FRX) and Horizonte Minerals (HZM) were among the AIM-listed mining companies that updated investors on Wednesday.

Read: Wednesday's AIM news: Mining, to see what they had to say.

12:15 - Ophir Energy (OPHR) has announced its fifth consecutive gas discovery offshore Tanzania.

The well, located 45 kilometres off the coast of Tanzania and 45 kilometres north of the Mozambique maritime border, is the fifth well to be drilled by the Ophir-BG Group (BG.) joint venture.

For more, read: Ophir Energy discovers more Tanzanian gas.

12:00 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) remained under pressure on Wednesday as Greek worries caused a general flight from risk.

London's leading index was 38 points in the red at 5399 with Sainsbury (SBRY) leading losing stocks, while Croda (CRDA) stood firm.

Margins remained much slimmer than usual on AIM, with Arden Partners (ARDN) up 21%, while Media Corporation (MDC) slipped 27%.

Interactive Investor users were trading high volumes through the site, with oilfield services company Lamprell (LAM) attracting plenty of attention and seeing almost four times as many shares being bought than sold, following a 60% fall in the share price after its gloomy loss-predicting trading update. Meanwhile Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) remained a favourite with buyers, while the most-sold stock was Namakwa Diamonds (NAD).

"After yesterday's crunch moment in Greece, when politicians finally threw in the towel on their attempts to form a government, it was always going to be a nervy start to trading in London. Markets registered heavy losses immediately on opening, as investors deserted assets for the usual safe havens, while Italian and Spanish bond yields began hitting highs not seen for several months," noted Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG Index.

Looking ahead, Beauchamp said: "It was a weak finish last night in the US, so futures currently point to only modest losses for Wall Street this afternoon, with the S&P 500 set to start down two points at around 1329. The eurozone remains the only game in town, but there is US housing and industrial production data out today to provide some light relief."

At a glance...

Commodities

Gold: $1,534.60

WTI crude oil: $92.16

Currencies

GBP/USD: 1.5917

GBP/EUR: 1.2520

EUR/USD: 1.2712

All changes from 09:00 BST.

11:41 - Gold Oil (GOO) has confirmed the spudding of the La Vega Este-1 well in the Azar block in the Putumayo Basin, Colombia.

The well will be drilled to a depth of 11,485 feet (measured depth) over 35 days and will target primarily the Villeta formation with the Caballos as a secondary objective.

Gold Oil is currently producing from the Villeta formation in its Nancy Burdine fields.

The operator believes the well has a 34% chance of finding oil and could flow at initial rates of between 1,500 and 2,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) if all objectives are oil bearing (300 to 400 bopd net to Gold Oil before royalty payments).

11:23 - FTSE 100 favourite Tullow Oil (TLW) described its performance in the first half of the year as "excellent" and said that it was confident of further significant growth in 2012.

Tullow said the Uganda farm-down and strong production performance give the company a firm financial foundation to carry out its extensive work programmes in Africa and the Atlantic margins.

For the full story, read: Tullow Oil hails African progress.

11:05 - Revenues at ICAP (IAP) fell by 3% to £1.681 billion in the year to the end of March.

Profits from continuing operations before acquisition and disposal costs and exceptional items rose by 1% to £354 million, but statutory pre-tax profits dropped 16% to £217 million.

The group's operating profit margin of 22% remained flat.

Chief executive Michael Spencer said: "ICAP delivered a solid performance in 2011-12 against a difficult economic environment. The fact that we maintained profitability in a year when trading [was] under such pressure is testament to the effectiveness of our diversified business, our global presence, our people and the actions we took to manage our cost base as market conditions changed."

10:47 - Total revenue was up 8.6% year on year to £8.6 billion at global caterer Compass Group (CPG), pushing reported pre-tax profit up 10% to £581 million.

The dividend was increased by 10.8% to 7.2p per share.

The company said it spent £188 million on acquisitions in the first half of the year and confirmed it was on track to complete its £500 million share buyback by the calendar year-end.

Analysts at both Charles Stanley and Panmure Gordon rated the stock a 'buy'.

10:29 - Investors in BG Group (BG.) had good news as the company revealed its fifth consecutive Tanzanian gas discovery with the Mzia-1 exploration well located in block 1, offshore southern Tanzania.

Mzia-1 was BG Group's first discovery within the deeper Cretaceous section and opened an extensive new play fairway within the group's offshore acreage in Blocks 1, 3 and 4, to complement the now proven Tertiary fairway.

Preliminary evaluation of the results indicated 55 metres of natural gas pay in good-quality sands.

10:11 - Range Resources (RRL) was one of the most popular stocks traded by the users of Interactive Investor on Wednesday as it upgraded its proved reserves in the North Chapman Ranch field in Texas by as much as 50%.

"Range is fully funded with respect to all its operations which are progressing extremely well," executive director Peter Landau assured investors.

Read: Range Resources announces Texas upgrade, for the full story.

09:46 - Speedy Hire (SDY) reversed its fortunes to deliver bumper pre-tax profits of £12.4 million for the full financial year, following a £0.7 million loss in 2011.

Underlying group revenue (excluding revenue from the disposed accommodation hire operation and the expired Network Rail contract) for the year was 4.3% higher at £326.4 million and the gross margin improved to 67.1%.

EBITA (before exceptional costs) more than doubled to £19.6 million, while net debt was slashed by a third from £113.9 million at the beginning of the year to £76.3 million at 31 March 2012. Investors will see a 0.26p boost to the final dividend.

Analysts at Panmure Gordon said the results were largely as expected: "A small increase to the dividend is symbolic of improving underlying confidence in the business, and we remain 'buyers' with an unchanged target price of 50p."

09:21 - Greggs (GRG), Britain's largest food-on-the-go retailer, said underlying sales had been hit by the miserable weather, which has continued into May after the country's wettest April since records began.

Greggs, which sells sandwiches, savouries, bread, cakes and pastries to over six million customers a week, said on Wednesday that sales at stores open over a year fell 1.8% in the 19 weeks to May 12.

For more, read: Greggs sales soggy after April washout.

09:00 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) looked set for a trying session on Wednesday as it moved south, echoing a sea of red on Wall Street and a bloodbath in Asia overnight, where the Hang Seng plummeted 3.5%.

London's blue-chip index lost 62 points to 5375 with Glencore International (GLEN) leading the falling stocks, down almost 6% as Croda (CRDA) edged higher.

Arden Partners (ARDN) led the slim gainers on AIM, with PLUS Markets (PMK) back in the doldrums, down 42%.

"We've had eurozone contagion fears for some time now but with the prospect of a Greek exit now looking increasingly like a reality investors aren't risking hanging about to see what happens," warned Interactive Investor's head of derivatives, Mike McCudden.

"Furthermore, in recent months, global markets have been relying on the US and emerging markets such as China to deliver on the global stage, but now that they are stuttering, the ongoing eurozone issues are hitting the markets harder than ever.

"Time is running out for the eurozone to come together and agree on decisive action. With a backdrop of increasing social unrest over austerity measures and signs of cracks in the foundations of the pact amongst the key players, finding the right collective political and economic solution to stem the rot and prevent contagion is looking increasingly unlikely," added McCudden.

US markets

US stocks spiralled lower on Tuesday, with the Dow industrials ending near a four-month low, as economic reports failed to deflect the latest breakdown in Greece's attempts to form a coalition.

Finishing lower for a ninth out of the last 10 sessions, the Dow Jones shed 63 points to 12632.

The S&P 500 gave up seven points to 1330, with the move below the psychological 1335 level triggering more serious concerns.

The Nasdaq closed eight points under at 2893.

At a glance...

Asian markets

Nikkei 225: 8801 ( 99)

Hang Seng: 19235 ( 659)

Shanghai Composite: 2346 ( 28)

Commodities

Gold: $1,529.90

WTI crude oil: $92.32

Currencies

GBP/USD: 1.5937

GBP/EUR: 1.2559

EUR/USD: 1.2684

08:00 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) opens at 5437.62.