The FTSE has managed to avoid the ignominy of triple-digit fall, by just over half a point.
The FTSE 100 was down 99 at 6,654 at 1.45pm, with just five index constituents avoiding a dive into the red, and one of those – supermarket Morrisons (LON:MRW) is unchanged.
Another supermarket chain, Sainsbury’s (LON:SBRY) was also defying the trend, while precious metals miners Randgold (LON:RRS) and Fresnillo (LON:FRES) were enjoying the traditional boost in times of turmoil from investors seeking a haven for their funds.
The top-share index had fallen below 6,600 at one point but recovered some of its poise, as investors await further developments in the stand-off between Athens and its creditors.
Greece has called a referendum on reform proposals by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other creditors after refusing to accept them in talks in Brussels.
Greek banks are to remain closed today and capital controls will be imposed, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras revealed on Sunday.
It followed news that the European Central Bank (ECB) won’t increase emergency funding to the country, which is due to repay around £1.1bn to the IMF on Tuesday. Default would move it closer to ejection from the euro - the so-called “Grexit”.
David Lamb, head of dealing at the foreign exchange specialists FEXCO notes: “Those arguing that Grexit is not inevitable are taking solace from polls taken just before weekend, which suggest that a majority of Greeks will vote to stay in the euro in next weekend's snap referendum.
"But even if a deal is cobbled together to extend the ECB [European Central Bank] bailout beyond Tuesday, the Greek people could yet derail the whole tortuous process by voting no.”
Predictably, holiday firms were getting it in the neck, especially after last week’s terrorist attack in Tunisia, with TUI (LON:TUI), down 7.3%, hardest hit of all the blue-chips. Sector peer Thomas Cook (LON:TCG) was down 3.9% while airlines IAG (LON:IAG) and Wizz Air (LON:WIZZ) both fall around 3.0%.
With stock markets taking a shoeing, investment management firms were being sold off across the board, with Standard Life (LON:SL.) off 2.8% and Schroders (LON:SDR) down 2.7%.
The Hellenic bottling company Coca-Cola HBC (LON:CCH) lost its fizz, falling 2.7%.
Outside of the FTSE 350, investment firm Armadale Capital (LON:ACP) was the best performing stock as the implied value of its investment in Mine Restoration Investment (MRI) has been underpinned by MRI raising funds by placing shares at ZAR0.07 a share.
At that price Armadale’s stake in MRI is worth around £910,000, prompting market makers to bump up the share price of Armadale by 41.5% to 7.25p.
Another company going well after share placing news was Active Energy (LON:AEG), up 12.2% at 5.50p. The company has raised £1mln by placing shares at 5p a pop with fund manager Ruffer to meet rising MDF demand in Turkey.