London’s blue-chip stocks ended Monday more than 1.1% lower with only five companies managing to make gains.
Weighing on the index once again was Greece as debt talks, which were trying to strike an accord between Brussels and Athens, broke down over the weekend.
“Traders are fixated on Greece at the moment and that won’t change until a deal has been reached” David Madden at IG said.
“Athens needs to shape up or ship out, and every day that goes by with no resolution makes a default all the more possible.”
Athens now has two weeks to break the deadlock before it faces a €1.6bn payment to the International Monetary Fund.
The further delays and lack of progress in negotiations saw markets across Europe take a tumble.
In Paris, the Cac 40 lost 1.7%, or 85 points, to 4,815 while the Frankfurt-based Dax dropped 1.9%, or 211 points, to 10,984.
Back in the UK, the FTSE 100 eased 74 points to 6,710 with budget flier EasyJet (LON:EZJ) one of the index’s biggest fallers.
The fall by the airline came after RBC Capital Markets lowered the stock to 'under-perform' from 'outperform' and put a target price on the stock some 50p lower than its current value. Shares eased 2.3% to 1,550p.
Insurer and pensions giant Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) was also near the bottom of the index, down 2.63% to 1,036p.
Broker Jefferies slashed its target price for the emerging markets-focused bank to 656p from 722p, almost a third of its current value.
Meanwhile, of the handful of risers, Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) led the way higher as investors headed for the perceived safe havens of gold and silver. Shares rose 19p to 4,626p.
Away from Footsie, Thomas Cook’s (LON:TCG) joint venture with Chinese conglomerate Fosun to target the Chinese tourist market has received the thumbs-up from the market. Shares were slightly higher to 139.7p today.
In the world of small caps, Inspired Capital (LON:INSC) shot up on the news that spurs-backer and billionaire Joe Lewis has made a bid for the company at 20p per share. Shares climbed 23% to 19.5p.
Similarly, Eclectic Bar Group (LON:BAR) has caught the eye of entrepreneur Luke Johnson who has agreed to pump £1.5mln into the company.
Johnson, who has a long history of investing in food & drinks establishments such as Pizza Express, is subscribing for 3mln shares at 50p a pop and will take over as unpaid non-executive chairman. Shares jumped 34% to 65p.
Conversely, Sabien Technology (LON:SNT) warned that sales and profits for the current financial year will be below expectations because of delays in some substantial orders. Shares dropped 25% to 7.5p.