London close: Markets slip with investors nervous ahead of crucial weekend for Greece

UK stocks finished firmly lower on Friday as Greece entered crunch time in its debt negotiations with creditors, with officials heading towards a pivotal weekend for Athens and the Eurozone.

The FTSE 100 fell 54.12 points (-0.8%) to 6,753.70, with ARM Holdings and a host of mining stocks providing a drag on the blue-chip index.

Greece's international creditors have given Athens a weekend deadline to come to a debt deal or risk defaulting on a €1.6bn repayment due to the IMF on 30 June.

After failing to reach an agreement on Thursday, another Eurogroup meeting has been scheduled for Saturday morning with a view to an agreement being made before markets open on Monday morning. This would mark the fifth Eurogroup meeting in nine days.

Officials on Friday offered Greece a five-month bailout extension worth €15.3bn in exchange for drastic reforms, only to be turned down by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras who accused creditors of “blackmail”.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU and the IMF had done all they could to ensure a positive outcome to the negotiations ahead of Greece’s 30 June deadline to repay the IMF €1.6bn.

"We have taken a step towards Greece," she said.

"Now it is up to the Greek side to take a similar step."

IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said it was a “crucial weekend” for Greece and the markets, considering recent gains made across Europe in anticipation of a debt deal being made.

“If investors are wrong, Monday could be ugly, since it seems doubtful that markets could open next week without a heavy sell-off if no deal has been agreed,” he said.

Tesco gains, ARM drops

Supermarket chain Tesco gained 3% after reporting that the ongoing slide in sales was slowing. UK like-for-like sales fell by 1.3% in the 13 weeks to 30 May, after 1.7% and 5.1% declines seen in the fourth and third quarters of the previous financial year.

Sector rivals Morrisons and Sainsbury’s were also higher.

ARM Holdings shares slumped 5% after Bernstein downgraded the stock to ‘underperform’, saying: “We see a genuine risk of the smartphone slowdown observed in in the first quarter 2015 being the first of a series, more than an inventory correction”.

A number of heavyweight mining stocks were also weaker, including Anglo American, Glencore and BHP Billiton.

Energy services outfit Wood Group declined after analysts at Beaufort Securities lowered their rating on the stock to ‘hold’, while sector peer Petrofac fell after being cut to ‘sell’ at Deutsche Bank.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,169.25 -0.73%
FTSE 100 6,753.70 -0.80%
FTSE 250 17,822.33 -0.68%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Tesco (TSCO) 223.65p +2.71%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 276.30p +0.69%
BT Group (BT.A) 464.15p +0.64%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 184.20p +0.60%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 417.80p +0.58%
Carnival (CCL) 3,352.00p +0.27%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,193.50p +0.25%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 341.80p +0.18%
ITV (ITV) 275.60p +0.18%
Royal Mail (RMG) 525.00p +0.10%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,090.00p -5.05%
Anglo American (AAL) 959.60p -3.54%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,301.50p -2.58%
Glencore (GLEN) 266.55p -2.56%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,113.00p -2.37%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,195.00p -2.29%
Shire Plc (SHP) 5,270.00p -1.86%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,981.00p -1.69%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 939.50p -1.62%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,374.00p -1.58%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,207.00p +9.03%
Computacenter (CCC) 780.00p +5.76%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 575.50p +3.60%
Dignity (DTY) 2,188.00p +3.50%
Cranswick (CWK) 1,628.00p +2.71%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 315.30p +2.54%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 953.50p +2.53%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 1,001.00p +2.40%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,708.00p +2.15%
Ted Baker (TED) 2,982.00p +2.05%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Evraz (EVR) 127.70p -5.69%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 152.50p -5.34%
Serco Group (SRP) 120.00p -4.99%
Senior (SNR) 295.00p -3.72%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 347.90p -3.55%
Genus (GNS) 1,422.00p -3.53%
Lonmin (LMI) 118.30p -3.19%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 172.40p -3.04%
Premier Farnell (PFL) 175.00p -2.99%
FirstGroup (FGP) 123.50p -2.91%