- Greek talks now underway in Athens.
- Investors await policy decision by BoE tomorrow.
- Reckitt leads risers after full-year results.

The earlier optimistic mood in global equity markets soon faded as talks between Greek leaders commenced on Wednesday afternoon. The Footsie slipped towards the end of the session to finish near its lowest levels of the day, down 14 points at 5,876.

Political leaders met with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos in Athens around 15:00 (London time) to try and agree budget cuts including a lowering of the minimum wage and a reduction in government spending by the equivalent of 1.5% of gross domestic product. As the meeting began, the credit ratings agency Standard & Poors said Greece may be rated as being in "selective default" until the precise details of its bond swap with private lenders become clear.

The betting in the market is that a deal will be agreed in Athens soon, perhaps this evening, which will trigger a further €130bn tranche of bailout money from the Eurozone and International Monetary Fund.

Meanwhile, investors will be looking ahead to tomorrow's meeting of policy makers at the Bank of England, with economists predicting the central bank to boost the economy by raising its asset purchases programme by a further £50bn to £325bn. "More QE by the Bank of England is still odds-on, despite overall survey evidence that suggests that the UK economy enjoyed some pick-up in activity in January," according to IHS Global Insight's chief UK economist Howard Archer. It is widely expected that interest rates will remain unchanged at 0.5%.

RECKITT IMPRESSES AFTER BEATING TARGETS

Cillit Bang maker Reckitt Benckiser maintained its position as the leading riser among blue-chips. The consumer products group said it exceeded its full year targets in 2011, as it announced a strategy for 'continued out-performance'. Net revenue in 2011 rose to £9.49bn from £8.45bn the year before and just a tad higher than market expectations of £9.45bn.

Power generator International Power was a heavy faller despite seeing revenues and earnings rise 3% and 8% in the 2011. The company said its hook-up with French utility company GDF SUEZ Energy delivered synergies well ahead of target in 2011.

Banks were in favour today with a bullish research report from Citi doing its bit to help. While the US investment bank acknowledged that 2012 will be another tough year for the UK economy, it maintained its overweight position on UK banks, saying that it does not predict that the share prices will re-trace their recent lows. HSBC, Lloyds, Standard Chartered were performing well, while Barclays - Citi's apparently favoured pick in the UK banking sector - and RBS bucked the trend to finish firmly in the red.

With what was a mixed bag of results for mining titan BHP Billiton, the market reaction was also mixed as shares traded broadly flat. There was something for both the bulls and the bears in BHP's interim results, with underlying pre-tax earnings ahead of expectations while the bottom line number was shy of what the market had been anticipating. Meanwhile, Russian precious metals group Polymetal International fell after terminating a joint venture as it bought out the remaining 50% stake owned by South Africa-based AngloGold Ashanti for $20m.

BP slipped after being downgraded by Societe Generale from buy to hold.

FTSE 250 IN THE RED AS SUPERGROUP, HOMESERVE AND MISYS PLUMMET

Shares in SuperGroup, owner of the Superdry brand, dropped nearly 17% after it said profit for the year will be towards the lower end of market expectations as it experienced a challenging last three weeks in January. "Following a solid Christmas trading period, which saw like-for-like retail sales of 9.3% in December, there has been a slowdown in the last three weeks of January," the group explained in a company statement.

Emergency repair group Homeserve fell 13% after saying that its recent travails that are still preventing the group from restarting some marketing operations. This, along with falling customer numbers, means that the group will make 200 lay-offs from its telesales department.

Meanwhile, financial software provider Misys tumbled 8% after saying that its Chief Executive Officer Mike Lawrie has been tempted away with an "offer of employment from a third party".

BC

FTSE 100 - Risers
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,479.00p +2.87%
Essar Energy (ESSR) 135.80p +2.34%
Amec (AMEC) 1,071.00p +2.29%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 390.40p +1.85%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,015.00p +1.81%
Old Mutual (OML) 157.20p +1.68%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 35.78p +1.47%
Man Group (EMG) 137.00p +1.41%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,483.00p +1.16%
Serco Group (SRP) 527.50p +1.15%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,984.00p -3.22%
International Power (IPR) 333.00p -2.83%
Centrica (CNA) 294.50p -2.71%
Sage Group (SGE) 295.60p -2.70%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,130.00p -2.29%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 348.60p -2.24%
CRH (CRH) 1,292.00p -2.05%
Glencore International (GLEN) 434.45p -1.99%
Pearson (PSON) 1,183.00p -1.50%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,140.00p -1.38%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Kesa Electricals (KESA) 80.35p +14.38%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 111.30p +5.60%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 455.20p +4.12%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 488.00p +3.85%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 165.80p +3.30%
EnQuest (ENQ) 117.00p +3.27%
Henderson Group (HGG) 124.80p +3.14%
Perform Group (PER) 265.00p +3.11%
Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 205.10p +3.07%
Grainger (GRI) 107.00p +2.88%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Supergroup (SGP) 579.50p -17.21%
Homeserve (HSV) 240.10p -12.69%
Misys (MSY) 298.50p -8.46%
Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 162.50p -4.41%
Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) 444.30p -3.91%
Carpetright (CPR) 577.50p -3.75%
UK Commercial Property Trust (UKCM) 73.00p -3.63%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 476.50p -3.25%
WH Smith (SMWH) 515.00p -3.10%
Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 43.75p -2.71%

Related share prices
BHP Billiton (BLT) share price
BP (BP.) share price
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) share price
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) share price
Misys (MSY) share price
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) share price
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) share price
Standard Chartered (STAN) share price
Homeserve (HSV) share price
International Power (IPR) share price
Supergroup (SGP) share price
Polymetal International (POLY) share price