London close: Stocks end with small gains but upside limited

London's FTSE 100 managed to finish in the green after a choppy session, though upside was limited by continuing uncertainty in Greece.

The Footsie settled 8.38 points higher at 6,968.87, ending well below the intraday high of 7,015.49 but firmly above the intraday low of 6,931.64.

While mining stocks ended broadly higher, oil and gas producers and banking shares were providing a drag. Aveva and Bwin.party meanwhile were high risers on the FTSE 250 on bid speculation.

Analyst Alastair McCaig from IG said that market "direction [was] distinctly absent despite sufficient corporate newsflow". He said that a sparse economic calendar "provides little incentive for any significant portfolio adjustments".

The NAHB US housing market index was the only major economic data release of the day, falling from 56 to 54 in May, missing the 57 consensus forecast.

Turning to Greece, a government spokesman said Athens will be able to pay wages and pensions in May but needs a deal with its lenders by the end of the month in order to "resolve our liquidity issues".

However, Gabriel Sakellaridis told a news conference that Athens was sticking to "red lines" in its continued cash-for-reforms negotiations with creditors.

BHP bucks the trend, Aveva and bwin surge

BHP Billiton was trading with heavy losses after its South32 spin-off was valued at the lower end of market expectations on its debut on the Australian Stock Exchange. Nevertheless, the wider mining sector finished higher as decent gains from the likes of Fresnillo, Glencore and Randgold managed to offset BHP.

Upbeat comments from UBS also helped shares in the precious metals sector in particular as the bank said gold equities were well placed to offer "genuine leverage to a gold-price recovery". The bank reiterated its 'buy' recommendations on Acacia Mining and Randgold and said it sees long-term value potential at Fresnillo.

Fresnillo was also rising after saying it remains on track to hit its output guidance in 2015 after a strong start to the year. Elsewhere, Rio Tinto was making headlines on rumours it could raise $1bn from the sale of some aluminium assets.

Engineering software group Aveva was making decent gains after weekend reports that it could be an acquisition target of Schneider Electric, General Electric and Emerson Electric.

Meanwhile, online gaming group Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment jumped after confirming it has received a cash and shares bid from sector peer 888 Holdings.

Babcock gained after posting a 47% rise in pre-tax profit for the year ended March 31st to £313.1m on revenues up 37% at £4.5bn.

Banking stocks were mostly lower, including RBS, Barclays and Lloyds. The latter fell after being hit with a downgrade by Investec to 'sell' after the stock recently reached a 6.5-year high. The broker said that the share price is now more than up with events.

Oil and gas stocks such as BP and BG Group were also trading in the red. BP was lowered to 'sell' by Goldman Sachs, who warned that its dividend was at risk.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,250.93 +0.37%
FTSE 100 6,968.87 +0.12%
FTSE 250 18,022.21 +0.01%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 792.50p +5.39%
Sage Group (SGE) 561.50p +3.22%
Royal Mail (RMG) 499.00p +2.80%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,111.00p +2.78%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 581.00p +2.29%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,419.00p +2.01%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,936.00p +2.00%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,874.00p +1.41%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 187.20p +1.35%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,265.00p +1.28%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,463.00p -4.57%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,071.00p -1.43%
Aviva (AV.) 535.00p -1.38%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,678.00p -1.29%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,077.00p -1.24%
BG Group (BG.) 1,163.50p -1.15%
Tesco (TSCO) 222.10p -1.07%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,667.00p -1.04%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 88.14p -0.97%
St James's Place (STJ) 936.00p -0.85%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,000.00p +8.99%
Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 108.00p +8.60%
AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 888.00p +5.34%
Rotork (ROR) 262.90p +4.37%
Mitie Group (MTO) 298.70p +3.82%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 67.80p +2.96%
Allied Minds (ALM) 636.50p +2.83%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 713.50p +2.37%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,409.00p +2.34%
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 207.00p +2.02%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
COLT Group SA (COLT) 148.50p -4.19%
Soco International (SIA) 186.50p -4.06%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 325.20p -3.84%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,684.00p -3.77%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 552.00p -3.66%
Premier Oil (PMO) 171.00p -3.50%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,257.00p -3.38%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 156.10p -3.22%
Just Eat (JE.) 448.80p -3.11%
Essentra (ESNT) 975.00p -3.08%