London’s blue-chips finished the day clinging on to gains as the negotiations over the Greek bail-out hit another snag.
US stocks opened softer after Greece rejected new proposals handed out by it pay-masters, as the two sides race to find common agreement on Greece's debt before a repayment deadline at the end of the month.
UK stocks often follow the US, and there was a weaker trend in the afternoon, but nevertheless the FTSE 100 finished 10 points in profit at 6,845, with supermarkets and oil majors to the fore in the lunchtime session.
Sainsbury's gained 6.3p at 275.5p as broker Societe Generale upped its rating on the supermarket group, prompting buying in sector peers Tesco (LON:TSCO) and Morrisons (LON:MRW).
Broker comment also pumped up integrated oil major Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB), which climbed 1.5% to 1,916p as Deutsche Bank moved from a neutral position to a bullish one.
BG Group (LON:BG.), the subject of an agreed bid from Shell, rose 1.9% to 1,109.5p in sympathy.
Among the mid-caps, speciality chemicals group Elementis (LON:ELM) took a bath, shedding 54p at 257.6p, after it said “temporary market dynamics” experienced in the second quarter will most likely have a negative influence on the full-year result.
Among small caps, Ascent Resources (LON:AST) lived up to its name, surging 35% to 0.21p on news it had had won an environmental permit to install a gas gathering and separation station at its Petišovci field in Slovenia.
Alaskan oil explorer 88 Energy (LON:88E) hardened 0.13p to 0.86p after saying it had agreed a US$50mln funding deal with Bank of America.
Also on the up was Russia-focused Eurasia Mining (LON:EUA), which ticked up 0.15p to 1.1p as Moscow provisionally approved its application for a licence at its West Kytlim platinum project.
Software firm Brady (LON:BRY) cracked the pound barrier, with the shares rising from 98.5p to 103p on the back of a significant contract win.
Among the laggards, Mosman Oil & Gas (LON:MSMN) dropped 0.36p to 2.75p as the New Zealand and Australia-focused oil explorer raised £400,000 through a share placing and subscription.
Premier African Minerals (LON:PREM) retreated 12.7% to 2.40p as finance house Darwin Strategic took possession of 35mln new Premier shares as a result of exercising some warrants at 1.25p a throw.
Amur Minerals (LON:AMC) tumbled 7p to 24.25p as the base metals projects developer received approval of its Kun-Manie nickel copper sulphide project plan.
“We are ready to move on to the next phase of site evaluation by infill drilling and initiation of the metallurgical test work that will guide us in selecting the specific process design for Kun-Manie. This next phase of project de-risking and assessment will provide an increase in the reserve base necessary to undertake the production decision," said Robin Young, chief executive of Amur.