The UK’s blue-chip stocks were struggling on a mixed day for European bourses today ahead of the Us open.
The German DAX shed 50 points to 11,761 while the French CAC 40 was 17 points higher to 5,134 as sentiment was subdued by renewed Greece concerns.
Greece remains in negotiations with its creditors, but finance minister Yanis Varoufakis continues to cause problems, most recently blaming the creditors for the situation the country finds itself in.
The chances of the country defaulting on its payment to the IMF next month are becoming scarily likely and the sentiment has caused uncertainty across Europe.
In the UK, the FTSE 100 was 15 points lower to 7,016 as it made a moderate recovery from an early morning drop.
Royal Mail (LON:RMG) led the risers as it received an upgrade from broker Cantor Fitzgerald to ‘hold’ from ‘sell’.
Last week, the company blamed tough competition for lower than expected revenue in 2014 causing its share price to slip. Shares rebounded more than 3% to 519p today.
Pharma giants AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) and GlaxoSmithKline (LON:GSK) were suffering after being downgraded by UBS and JP Morgan respectively.
Shares in both companies eased 1% to 4,429p, AstraZeneca, and 1,449p, GlaxoSmithKline.
Away from the FTSE 100, budget airline Ryanair (LON:RYA) beat expectations as it reported a 66% hike in profits. Shares took off today, rising 6% to 11p.
In small caps, Premier African Minerals (LON:PREM) expects to produce concentrate from its flagship RHA tungsten project by the end of the first week of June. Shares jumped 24% to almost 2.5p.
Elsewhere, Coms (LON:COMS) sold its telecoms business through a £2.5mln cash deal, which could rise by a further £1mln in the future. Shares leapt 15% to 0.8p.
Shares in Scottish gold explorer Scotgold (LON:SGZ) rose by 17% to 0.7p on news of a hefty reserve upgrade at the site at Cononish.
Range Resources (LON:RRL) told investors it has signed up to a conditional new funding deal worth up to US$35mln. Shares rose 5% to 0.5p.
Meanwhile, Metal Tiger (LON:MTR) is still waiting on cash from its recent trades in New World Oil & Gas (LON:NEW). Shares eased 11% to 1p as it appears it may take some time before it receives the money it is owed.
Fred Krueger, executive chairman and co-founder of Minds + Machines (LON:MMX) is stepping down, having steered the Internet company to a fully-fledged operating entity. Shares fell 11% to 9.1p on the news.