London open: Stocks fall as Greece enters crunch talks over debt deal

UK stock markets fell on Friday morning after the collapse of Greek debt talks at the Eurogroup meeting the previous day.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.72% at 6,758.47 in early trading, as gains in the supermarket sector were offset by weakness among miners as investors scaled back their appetite for riskier assets.

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

After failing to reach an agreement on Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said another Eurogroup meeting on Saturday would be decisive for finding a solution for the Greek crisis, adding that an agreement must be reached before markets open on Monday morning. This would mark the fifth Eurogroup meeting in nine days.

Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said that the door was still “open” for Greece to come with new proposals “or accept what is on the table".

“With talks collapsing yet again on Thursday, it is looking like the crunchiest of crunch weeks will have to extend into the weekend,” said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.

Tesco rises, miners fall

Supermarket chain Tesco gained 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. However, just seven constituents on the FTSE 100 were in positive territory early on.

Mining stocks were out of favour as risk appetite faltered, with Glencore, BHP Billiton and Anglo American in the red.

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 3,173.52 -0.59%
FTSE 100 6,758.47 -0.72%
FTSE 250 17,865.30 -0.44%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Tesco (TSCO) 224.90p +3.28%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 280.50p +2.22%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 184.80p +0.93%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 342.10p +0.26%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,374.00p +0.22%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 939.00p +0.11%
BT Group (BT.A) 461.55p +0.08%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,111.00p -3.22%
Glencore (GLEN) 268.90p -1.70%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,973.00p -1.69%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,315.00p -1.57%
SSE (SSE) 1,587.00p -1.55%
Anglo American (AAL) 980.00p -1.49%
WPP (WPP) 1,463.00p -1.48%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,988.00p -1.34%
Wolseley (WOS) 4,184.00p -1.32%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 410.00p -1.30%

FTSE 250 - Risers
PayPoint (PAY) 1,022.00p +2.20%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 314.00p +2.11%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,126.00p +1.72%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 945.00p +1.61%
Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) 597.00p +1.02%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,677.00p +0.98%
Cranswick (CWK) 1,600.00p +0.95%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 501.00p +0.95%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 303.80p +0.93%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 986.00p +0.87%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 152.80p -5.15%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 945.00p -2.88%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 340.70p -2.38%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 327.80p -2.30%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 230.00p -2.09%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 660.50p -2.00%
Genus (GNS) 1,445.00p -1.97%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 148.60p -1.91%
Diploma (DPLM) 805.00p -1.83%
Serco Group (SRP) 124.00p -1.82%