London’s blue-chip stocks ended higher after a day dominated by Greece and its creditors.
Reports state that Germany made few concessions during the lengthy talks and insisted that €50bn of assets be used to pay down Greece debts.
Commentators said that the deal is worse for Greece than the one rejected last week, with some speculating that embattled prime minister Alexis Tsipras may find it tough to survive the asset pledge.
Connor Campbell at Spreadex reminded investors, however, that “currently the ‘Greek deal’ is nothing but a dream.”
Meanwhile, Accendo Markets analyst Augustin Eden says a dispute between Eurozone leaders and Greece over debt is far from being solved, despite the understanding of a new bailout package.
“A Grexit has been avoided for now,” said Eden. “But there’s now a stark realisation that this is the beginning of a very long road for Greece and the Eurozone.”
The deal still needs to be passed through all relevant parliaments with Athens and Berlin the main ones to watch according to Chris Beauchamp of IG.
First up is Greece, which could pass legislation by Wednesday, paving the way for a vote in the Bundestag on Friday, alongside votes in all of the other member states.
The realisation didn’t subdue the FTSE 100, however, with the index finishing 64 points higher at the close of play to 6,737.
British Airways owner IAG (LON:IAG) was the best of the risers. Swiss broker UBS raised its view to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’.
It also ramped up the price target to 700p from 580p previously. Shares climbed 3.2% to 547p.
Also higher was banking giant Barclays (LON:BARC) after a report suggested it may acquire another bank as part of plans to ring-fence its retail operations, while setting up its investment bank as a standalone unit. Shares rose 2.1% to 273p.
Away from the index, chemical manufacturer Platform Speciality Products (LON:PAH) is nearing the takeover of rival firm Alent (LON:ALNT) for £1.35bn.
The two companies reached an agreement whereby Platform will pay 503p cash for each Alent share. Shares in Alent surged 44% to 487p.
In small cap news, Nostrum Oil & Gas (LON:NOG) is making another approach for Tethys Petroleum (LON:TPL).
A share based transaction, proposed at a notional 21.85 Canadian cents per share, represents a premium of around 15% to the terms of a deal on the table between Tethys and Kazakh group AGR Energy.
Tethys shares rose by 24% to 9.62p while Nostrum’s lost 4p to 589p.
Elsewhere, Anglo Asian (LON:AAZ) shares soared as it posted record gold output from its Gedabek mine in Azerbaijan. Shares jumped 5% to 6.3p.
Conversely, International Personal Finance (LON:IPF) warned there could be financial consequences as a result of potential legal changes in Poland.
The existing proposal puts a cap on mandatory non-interest charges, but the lower chamber of the Polish department has put a spanner in the works by voting in favour of an amendment that extended the cap to all non-interest costs, irrespective of whether they are mandatory.
Shares in the home credit and digital loan provider eased 25% to 352p, making it one of the day’s biggest fallers.