UK Market Falls, But Ryanair Climbs On Results

(RTTNews) - The UK market fell on Tuesday, as concerns about Greece remained with the country expected to make a 300 million euros payment to the International Monetary Fund next week.

Sentiment was also impacted by political uncertainty in Spain, where Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's Popular Party suffered its worst result in 20 years in a municipal election, as the voters punished his government for four years of austerity and a raft of corruption scandals before a general election due in November.

On a day of very little economic news, the quarterly Distributive Trades Survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed British retailers posted strong growth in sales this month and their outlook for sales and orders improved at an even stronger pace in the year to June.

A balance of 51 percent said sales increased in May, up from the prior month's balance of 12 percent and expectations of 40 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks was losing 0.43 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, was falling 0.29 percent.

The FTSE 100 index fell 0.22 percent.

Intertek fell 1.8 percent and Centrica dropped 1.6 percent.

Hikma Pharma was losing 1.4 percent while WM Morrison dropped 1.3 percent.

Meanwhile, Ryanair jumped more than 6 percent after reporting a strong growth in full-year profit.

Weir Group added close to 3 percent and Royal Mail gained 2.8 percent.

Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments climbed nearly 2 percent each.

Other markets in the region were mostly lower.

The Asian stocks reversed early losses to end mostly higher as Chinese shares continued to rally and a rebound in iron ore prices lifted resource stocks.

In the U.S., futures point to a cautious open on Wall Street, following a public holiday on Monday.

Crude for July delivery fell $0.43 to $59.29 per barrel, while June gold dropped $9.8 to $1194.2 a troy ounce.