- Bank run speculation across Europe grips markets- Barroso wants Greece to stay in Eurozone- Moody's could downgrade Spanish banksConcerns over a potential bank run in Greece and uncertainty surrounding its possible exit from the Eurozone fuelled another sell-off on Thursday. Since the start of the week, the FTSE 100 has lost 4.3 per cent of its value after four consecutive days of declines.News that Greek politicians have failed to form a coalition (sending the country back to the polls) has been weighing on equity markets over the last few days, as growing support for left-wing Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras threatens to push the country out of the Eurozone - Tsipras has maintained its hardline stance against the austerity measures agreed as part of the bailout from the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). "Confidence in the markets is unlikely to improve over the next month while Greece's fate continues to hang on the second round of elections, dubbed the referendum on whether to stay in the euro," said Alpari analyst Craig Erlam. "With a Greek exit more and more expected, we're likely to see equities fall further before improving, meaning once the Greece situation is resolved in one way or another, there'll be a lot of underpriced stocks out there," he said.Buying picked up slightly in afternoon trade after European Commission President José Manual Barroso told the UN General Assembly: "As far as Greece is concerned, I would like to reaffirm very clearly that we want Greece to stay in the euro area. And the EU will do all it takes to ensure it." He added that the EU will "honour our commitments toward Greece and we expect the Greek government - current and future - to fulfill jointly agreed conditions for financial assistance," echoing comments made earlier today by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde.Last night, the Federal Reserve released the minutes of its latest policy-setting meeting, showing that members were concerned over the threats from the heightened tension in European debt markets. These concerns have been exacerbated on rumours of customers across both Greece and Spain frantically withdrawing funds from banks.Sentiment surrounding Spain was also dampened today as its Treasury sold short-term debt at much higher borrowing costs than the last auction. Meanwhile, there were rumours that Moody's could be downgrading the credit rating of Spanish banks later on today, a few days after it cut the ratings of 26 of their Italian counterparts.FTSE 100: IAG down on Spanish concerns; financials sold offBritish Airways and Iberia owner IAG was the heaviest faller of the day on the back of concerns over the Spanish economy. Furthermore, major shareholder Bankia (the troubled Spanish lender which owns a 12.05% interest in the airline) was taking a battering on Madrid's IBEX today. Although denied by the bank, there were rumours that customers have withdrawn more than €1bn from deposits since it was part-nationalised last week. The speculation earlier in the week was that the lender may need to sell its entire IAG stake in order to combat current problems.Financials continued to bear the brunt of the 'risk-off' attitude seen in markets as of late with banking groups Barclays, RBS, Lloyds and Standard Chartered suffering heavy losses by the close. Insurance group Aviva fell sharply after saying that operating profit for the first quarter of the year was marginally lower year-on-year. Heading the other way was precious metal mining groups Randgold Resources and Fresnillo as gold prices rebounded after hitting a 10-month low yesterday. Antofagasta also finished higher after seeing group turnover and EBITDA jump 38.9% and 35.4%, respectively, in the first quarter.Interdealer broker ICAP was also performing well after UBS upgraded its rating on the stock from sell to neutral and raised its target price from 310p to 330p. ? Energy supplier National Grid rose after increasing profits and the dividend in the 2011/12 fiscal year. However, revenues eased and capex guidance for the 2012/13 fiscal year was revised higher. ?? FTSE 250: TalkTalk surges, Kesa drops The final results from telecoms group TalkTalk pleased the market this morning as shares jumped by 15% after the firm hit its 20% EBITDA margin target significantly ahead of schedule. Revenues slipped 4% during the year to the end of March but earnings surged. ?? Kesa Electricals suffering heavy losses after saying that trading conditions in the final quarter of its fiscal year were "weak" and "volatile". The electrical retailer said that continuing group revenue in the period between January 9th and April 30th fell by 5.9% on a like-for-like basis, mainly due to a 30% decline in its Vision division (TVs, DVD players, etc.) following the digital switchover last year. FTSE 100 - RisersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,855.00p +4.63%ICAP (IAP) 342.00p +1.63%National Grid (NG.) 675.00p +1.43%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,026.00p +1.38%Centrica (CNA) 311.90p +1.10%BAE Systems (BA.) 274.50p +0.92%SSE (SSE) 1,339.00p +0.75%United Utilities Group (UU.) 628.00p +0.56%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,330.00p +0.53%SABMiller (SAB) 2,475.50p +0.41%FTSE 100 - FallersInternational Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 143.50p -6.02%Aviva (AV.) 267.70p -4.70%GKN (GKN) 184.30p -4.21%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 480.70p -4.15%Man Group (EMG) 78.55p -4.09%Vedanta Resources (VED) 985.00p -4.00%Barclays (BARC) 181.90p -3.78%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 21.06p -3.70%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 27.65p -3.56%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 331.80p -3.52%FTSE 250 - RisersTalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 159.00p +19.82%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 344.30p +11.14%Cookson Group (CKSN) 679.00p +5.52%Restaurant Group (RTN) 289.10p +4.37%Invensys (ISYS) 211.60p +3.42%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 69.85p +3.10%Amlin (AML) 327.30p +2.92%Shanks Group (SKS) 85.15p +2.84%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 136.30p +2.79%Marston's (MARS) 97.00p +2.75%FTSE 250 - FallersKesa Electricals (KESA) 46.76p -13.57%Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 197.40p -7.97%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 140.40p -7.75%Exillon Energy (EXI) 101.70p -5.66%Cape (CIU) 314.30p -5.30%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 14.36p -4.90%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 701.00p -4.56%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 558.00p -4.21%International Personal Finance (IPF) 216.80p -4.16%Bumi (BUMI) 385.00p -4.13%BC
Last checked at 
