Early gains for Footsie on talk of interest in Diageo from a Brazilian billionaire quickly faded on renewed worries over Greece.
FTSE 100 shed 11 points to 6,793, despite a more than 7% rise for the spirits and Guinness group.
The Diageo speculation started on Friday evening in the US, with Jorge Paulo Lemann, who is behind 3G Capital and has a stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev, said by the Brazilian press to be interested.
Most recently, 3G linked with Warren Buffett in a deal to merge with Kraft Foods that had at its heart ownership of mature, well-known brands and products of the type Diageo (LON:DGE) has in abundance.
Shares in the Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff group rose 118p to 1,878p.
Vodafone (LON:VOD) was another gainer as the talk of a tie-up with Liberty Global refused to die down. Reports over the weekend suggested Liberty’s owner is pushing for a full blown merger not an asset swap.
Among the small fry, there were some big gains for junior gold miners on encouraging financing developments.
Armadale Capital (LON:ARM) jumped 170% to 0.61p on a US$20mln project finance deal to bring to its Mpokoto gold mine in DRC into production.
South America- focused Minera (LON:MIRL) climbed 30% to 6.51p on a US$70mln finance package for its Ollachea mine in Peru, while Ariana (LON:AAU) added 8% to 1.19p as the Turkish authorities gave its Kiziltepe gold project strategic investment status.