London stocks drop as Greek worries, EasyJet weigh

 London,June-15 London-traded stocks dropped Monday, with the week kicking off with a ratings downgrade for air carrier EasyJet PLC and a dour outlook for Greece as talks with its European creditors break down.

The FTSE 100 fell 0.6% to 6,743.16, with no sectors moving higher and only a handful of shares logging gains. The British blue-chips benchmark fell along with the broader European equity market after European Commission officials on Sunday dismissed Greece’s latest proposals related to bailout talks as “vague and repetitive”, heightening fears that Greece is closer to a debt default.

European stocks were down more than 1%.

In London, shares of EasyJet PLC dropped 2.3% to the bottom of the FTSE 100 as RBC Capital Markets cut its rating on the budget airline to underperform from outperform. It also cut its 2015-2016 per-share earnings estimates by 10% to 13%. “We project [second-half] profits behind 2014. As summer is key, we see few positive catalysts until mid-2016 while EasyJet faces a winter squeeze,” RBC analysts wrote in a Monday note.

Among the few advancers, copper producer Fresnillo PLC rose 1.2% and Tesco PLC gained 0.2%.

On the FTSE 250, Thomas Cook PLCshares turned down by 0.3%. The stock had been higher after the travel services company said it’s formed a joint venture with China’s Fosun International Ltd.  to develop tourism activities for the Chinese market under Thomas Cook’s brands.

Source:Marketwatch