By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
U.K. stocks eked out a small gain Thursday as some retailers
advanced following financial updates, but the rise was blunted in
part as significant progress in resolving Greece's debt crisis
failed to materialize.
The FTSE 100 finished up 0.1% at 7,040.92. The benchmark for
much of the session fell with other European stock markets after
key European officials late Wednesday rebuffed comments by Greece's
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras suggesting Athens was getting close
to a deal with international creditors.
U.K. and European stocks had rallied on Wednesday on the
prospect that a deal was in the works. European stocks finished
lower on Thursday.
Concerns about Greece's cash crunch and its future in the
eurozone have hit sentiment across European markets as well as
those in the U.K., which although it isn't part of the eurozone, is
part of the European Union.
With most regional markets "ending the day in the red, it looks
like people are still preferring to believe the eurozone and
Greece's creditors, rather than the government in Athens," wrote
Chris Beauchamp, senior market analyst at IG, in a note.
Outside of Greek worries, Beauchamp noted the FTSE 100 felt the
weight of a 4.6% loss in shares of equipment rental company Ashtead
Group PLC . The shares dropped after U.S. counterpart United
Rentals Inc. (URI) acknowledged at a conference that activity in
May "is coming in a little softer" than it had anticipated.
Ashtead's success "has been built on the strength of its U.S.
operations," said Beauchamp, "and while the news does not dent the
upward trend, it will cause some investors to wonder whether the
shares are still compelling value at around 20 times earnings."
But topping the FTSE 100 was Sports Direct International PLC .
The stock climbed 4.2% as the retailer said underlying pretax
profit and per-share earnings for the year ended April 26 are ahead
of market expectations
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sports-direct-sees-yearly-figures-above-estimates-2015-05-28).
Kingfisher PLC shares tacked on 2.2% after the home-improvement
retailer reported a 0.8% rise in first-quarter same-store sales
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kingfisher-posts-rise-in-same-store-sales-2015-05-28),
with retail profit in constant currencies up 1.4% at 150 million
pounds ($230 million).
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