The top share index suffered a fifty point fall in the wake of the Greek referendum vote, but it could have been worse.
Indeed, it was worse earlier in the day, when the FTSE 100 dipped to 6,507 before it rallied to 6,536.
Eurozone leaders arranged an emergency summit for Tuesday evening to discuss the referendum result, but they stood their ground over Greek demands for debt relief in exchange for reform, saying a debt cut wasn't on the table.
There was some cheer for the creditors when controversial Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis resigned. The front-runner to replace him is Euclid Tsakalotos, who has already stood in for Varoufakis in some talks in the past few months.
“Clearly, the ‘No’ result allows the Greek government to negotiate from a position of strength, but both Greece and the EU will have to seek compromises to avoid a disorderly Greek exit,” suggested Michael Stanes, investment director at Heartwood Investment Management.
“There are already signs that negotiations out of the current crisis are underway, starting with the resignation of the Greek Finance Minister Varoufakis - a gesture that has been described as ‘helpful’ in reaching an agreement - but over the medium- to longer-term, the Greek government and the EU will have to address the much thornier issue of debt sustainability,” Stanes suggested.
Engine developer Rolls-Royce (LON:RR.) applied reverse thrust, down 54p at 802.5p, after warning on profits due to weakness in civil aerospace and marine power markets.
Reports that the government would countenance selling shares in taxpayer-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) at a loss unnerved the lender’s shareholders. RBS shares finished down 3.6% at 346.5p.
With markets falling like ninepins worldwide, it was a bad day to be holding fund managers such as Schroders (LON:SDR), down 3.6%, and Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HL.), down 2.3%.
Utilities SSE (LON:SSE) and Centrica (LON:CNA) defied the downward trend on reports that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), is expected shortly to clear the country’s “big six” power companies of market abuse.
SSE rose 16p to 1,574p and Centrica advanced 1.6p to 267.4p.
Structural steel specialist Billington (LON:BILN) reached for the sky, climbing 19% to 262.5p after it said half-year results would be significantly ahead of expectations.
Driver safety technology firm Seeing Machines (LON:SEE) motored forward 0.625p to 5.25p on news of two deals. The first is with industrial vehicles giant Caterpillar, and will see Caterpillar Safety Solutions provide 24/7 monitoring and analytical services to their global customers using Seeing Machines' DSS products, while the second is with Aussie transport and logistics firm Toll, which will roll-out Seeing Machines’ technology across its fleet.
Europa Oil & Gas (LON:EOG) fell 1.25p to 6.625p after the company revealed plans to raise up to £3.4mln through share sales at 6p a pop.