London close: Stocks end on back foot on Greek debt woes

The UK stock market ended on the back foot on Friday as concerns about ongoing Greek debt talks continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.90% at 6,786 at the close after the International Monetary Fund's technical team quit discussions due to a lack of progress from Athens.

The IMF on Thursday said there were still "major differences" to be overcome and chose to leave negotiations taking place in Brussels and return to Washington. Particular areas of contention are pension and labour market reform.

However, a Greek official told Reuters Athens will meet creditors on Saturday morning and deliver a counter proposal.

Negotiations between the parties have failed to reach an agreement as Greece needs its creditors to release bailout funds. Greece has to repay €1.6bn in liabilities due by the end of the month.

"A lack of progress in the Greek debt talks has seen the IMF throw in the towel and head home, leaving Greece´s confident prognosis about discussions looking very hollow," said IG analyst Alastair McCaig.

In economic data on Friday, the Office for National Statistics said it had revised up its historic estimates for construction output, meaning that UK GDP probably expanded by 3.1% in 2014 instead of the initially reported 2.8%.

In the US, the University of Michigan’s index on consumer confidence rose to 94.6 in June from 90.7 the previous month, better than the 91.4 predicted by analysts.

Royal Mail rebounds

Royal Mail rebounded from Thursday's losses, which came as the Treasury offloaded half of its stake in the postal operator for £750m and rival PostNL announced the suspension of Whistl’s UK direct delivery operations

BT Group surged despite regulator Ofcom proposing controls on the wholesale prices it charges for products using leased telecoms lines, which provide high-speed links for businesses and providers of 'superfast' broadband and mobile services.

Miners Glencore, BHP Billiton, Fresnillo, Rio Tinto and Anglo American were trading higher, despite concerns that the economy of top commodities consumer China may be slowing, following recent disappointing data.

Shares in Petra Diamonds slumped after the company said that full-year revenues are likely to be lower than expected due to reduced prices for diamonds. Petra said it now expects to report revenue of $430m, which is below market expectations of about $450m.

Gambling outfit Bwin.party also dropped after two of its largest shareholders, Emerald Bay and Stinson Ridge, sold 50m shares. Bwin’s board was not party to the placing arrangements, but the company said they were consistent with the trustees’ obligations to sell down their holdings before the end of October 2015.

Oil and gas stocks were mostly lower, including heavyweight producer Royal Dutch Shell, as Brent crude fell 1.18% to $64.34 a barrel.

Catering group Compass is on the decline after Exane BNP Paribas downgraded the stock to 'neutral', while Bernstein was weighing on shares of Severn Trent and United Utilities after cutting the stocks to ‘market perform’.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,188.84 -0.69%
FTSE 100 6,784.92 -0.90%
FTSE 250 17,949.09 -0.78%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Royal Mail (RMG) 507.00p +2.78%
BT Group (BT.A) 453.50p +1.49%
ITV (ITV) 269.70p +1.16%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,586.00p +0.63%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 732.00p +0.62%
Glencore (GLEN) 282.60p +0.48%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 557.50p +0.36%
Barclays (BARC) 269.70p +0.35%
Next (NXT) 7,395.00p +0.20%
Fresnillo (FRES) 737.00p +0.14%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,100.00p -3.12%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,486.00p -2.75%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 416.90p -2.27%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,918.00p -2.19%
Unilever (ULVR) 2,788.00p -2.14%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,884.00p -2.13%
CRH (CRH) 1,845.00p -2.12%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,858.00p -2.06%
BP (BP.) 437.60p -2.06%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,270.00p -2.01%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 572.50p +4.09%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 5,755.00p +2.68%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,893.00p +1.66%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,180.00p +1.64%
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 225.40p +1.35%
Indivior (INDV) 235.90p +1.24%
Ted Baker (TED) 2,850.00p +1.24%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 828.00p +1.22%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 172.40p +0.94%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 165.90p +0.91%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Lonmin (LMI) 129.80p -7.09%
Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 97.60p -7.05%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 158.70p -6.87%
Evraz (EVR) 151.70p -5.31%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 121.50p -4.41%
Card Factory (CARD) 352.00p -4.09%
Serco Group (SRP) 125.10p -3.40%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 377.00p -3.28%
Soco International (SIA) 178.00p -3.26%
Bodycote (BOY) 742.50p -2.94%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,028.00p +4.00%
Vectura Group (VEC) 183.00p +2.09%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,610.00p +1.58%
Promethean World (PRW) 27.00p +1.41%
NCC Group (NCC) 217.00p +1.05%
Dialight (DIA) 552.00p +0.36%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
Torotrak (TRK) 7.78p -10.12%
Triad Group (TRD) 21.00p -4.55%
Consort Medical (CSRT) 943.50p -4.21%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 8.74p -3.43%
BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 14.75p -2.48%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 88.50p -1.67%
Ricardo (RCDO) 870.00p -1.47%
RM (RM.) 147.38p -1.09%
SDL (SDL) 400.00p -0.99%
Gresham Computing (GHT) 103.00p -0.96%