Another round of failed talks between Greece and the IMF cast a shadow over markets in London.
FTSE 100 opened 45 points lower at 6,801 as Greece was told to stop gambling on its future by one EU leader.
Greece needs to pay the IMF €1.6bn by the end of the month, otherwise it risks default or having capital controls imposed or even an exit from the Eurozone.
The country’s government apparently hopes a compromise can still be struck, but the gap between the two sides yesterday was said to be considerable.
UK company news was a little thin on the ground, with Royal Mail (LON:RMG) the best of the performers on the closure of home deliveries by rival Whistl. Shares rose 10p to 504p.
BT (LON:BT.A) also edged higher even though the telecoms regulator Ofcom told the network infrastructure owner it may control how much it charges on high speed business lines.
A consultation period has started, which will also consider how much BT can charge other operators to use its high speed network when it is opened up. BT shares rose 3.5p to 450p.
Supermarkets featured among the fallers following yesterday’s gloomy prediction of two more years of woe from credit agency Moody’s as discounters Aldi and Lidl become more powerful.
Tesco (LON;TSCO) fell 1.1% to 213p, Sainsbury’s (LON:SBRY) dipped 1.6% to 259p, while Morrisons (LON:MRW) was 1.5% lower at 178p.
Away from the index, fashion clothing group Ted Baker (LON:TED) saw sales surge ahead in its latest quarter as US customers lapped up its new ranges. Shares climbed 1.9% to 2,869p.
Similarly, women's outfitters Bonmarché (LON:BON) said it was confident of its growth strategy after reporting a 55% increase in pre-tax profits in the year just gone. Shares jumped 5% to 284p.
It wasn’t all good news however as Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment (LON:BPTY) lost over 10% to 93p as it emerged two shareholders plan to issue 50mln shares in the FTSE250 gaming group.
Among the small caps, investment company Octagonal (LON:OCT) shot up 56% as a concert party involving serial entrepreneur and Horse Hill driller David Lenigas took control.
Amerisur Resources (LON:AMER) chairman Giles Clarke hailed a deal that will hook the company’s Colombian project into the oil export network as a “very major step forward”.
Civil works will begin soon, which means pipeline to the border with Ecuador should be in operation in the final quarter of the year. Shares climbed 10% to 36p on the announcement.
Conversely, Windar Photonics (LON:WPHO) said revenues will be lower than expected this year due to a slow start in the Asian wind turbine retrofit market. The profit warning sent shares 8% lower to 138p.