Market overview: StanChart tops leaderboard

1630:Close The yield on 10-year Greek bonds slipped by 17 basis points to 11.89% after Greece re-jigged its bailout negotiating team in response to the intense criticism of finance minister Yanis Varoufakis' bellicose stance over the weekend at the Eurogroup summit held in Riga, Latvia. StanChart led gains on the back of a positive research note out of Bank of America-Merrill Lynch ahead of the lender's next IMS, due out tomorrow. HSBC was in second place on the Footsie leaderboard after a report that the bank might spin-off its UK unit as part of a review into a possible transfer of its HQ out of the country. FTSE 100 up 33.28 points to 7,013.98.

1625: Following their analysis of the summer 2015 airline schedules analysts at Nomura write that: "We expect solid underlying demand in key markets (US, northern Europe, and increasingly Spain) to be supported by benign supply conditions. We retain our Bullish sector stance, and our key picks are Easyjet and IAG."

1620: As it approaches the close of play, the FTSE has erased almost all today's gains, despite an encouraging start across the pond.

1530: Asia-facing bank Standard Chartered, like HSBC dual listed in Hong Kong and London, is rising high on speculation it could follow its peer and quit the UK capital. Supermarket group Tesco is leading the fallers in the wake of Friday's credit ratings downgrade from Fitch. Read more: FTSE 100 fallers.

1445: Markets are more optimistic around Greek debt talks asGreek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has had his "wings clipped", say newswires, with a junior minister appointed ahead of him as the co-ordinator of a new team in charge of the country's negotiations. Varoufakis, who was last week subject to some stinging criticism from fellow finmins due to his mulishness at the negotiating table, will supervise the new team led by the wonderfully named Euclid Tsakalotos, a soft-spoken Oxford-educated professor.

1300: Sports Direct is almost 2% higher after RBC Capital markets upgraded its rating to sector perform from underperform. Having underperformed the sector, risks now more priced in, the broker said. "Although we believe the market has underestimated the dollar sourcing risk for SPD from FY17, we think the two key share price drivers of international and online sales are improving again and valuation is now more reasonable."

1010: The FTSE 100 is down almost 30 point at 7,041.12 led by falls at ITV, Tesco, and RSA Insurance. ITV is down just as Ofcom have announced changes to the cost of entering phone-ins, competitions and votes on TV and radio programmes.

0955: Some media are noting a move by Venezuela's central bank to convert part of its gold reserves into at least $1bn in cash through a swap with Citibank on Friday. The socialist-led country, which is a minor member of the Opec oil price-fixing group, will now have more foreign currency as it struggles with soaring consumer prices and an economy hit by low oil prices

0940: Drinks giant Diageo is down only slightly on news that broke over the weekend of a storm brewing in its Indian subsidiary United Spirits. The FTSE 100 company conducted an investigation into the 54.78%-owned Indian arm and found what appeared to be “various improprieties and legal violations” that has led it to demand the resignation of the business's chairman Vijay Mallya, though the 'liquor King of India' has refused and hired a battery of top lawyers.

0917: Sainsbury's has hired ex-Next finance director David Keens to its board as a non-executive director. Keens, who was group finance director of Next from 1991 to March 2015, will become chairman of the grocer's audit committee in July.

0850: UK stocks have started the morning drifting lower on the back of an inconclusive round of negotiations between Greece and its international creditors over the weekend. The yield on 10-year Greek government bonds is higher by 22 basis points to reach 12.8%. Tullow Oil is an outstanding gainer early on after the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled that the outfit could continue exploration activity in a contested area offshore from Ivory Coast. HSBC is the best performer on the top flight index on reports of the possible spin-off of its UK unit. StanChart is also higher on Friday´s reports that it is reviewing its UK domicile. FTSE 100 down 8.10 points to 7,062.76.