MOST FOLLOWED
Online shopping, Barclays, an infidelity website and the gold price were among topics piquing interest.
As Greek banks open again after three weeks and the gold price sank in the wake of the easing of tensions about the debt-ridden country, there was plenty for web surfers to chew over.
Unsurprisingly, to anyone who ever takes an interest on what comes through the letterbox, foot traffic in the High Street has fallen due to the trend of "shopping online".
The British Retail Commission (BRC) said foot traffic on average was 1.5% lower than a year ago, declining again after a 1% fall in May.
Another story in the news was that owners of travel hotel chain Travelodge are preparing for a £1bn sale or IPO and has appointed Deutsche Bank as advisor.
Goldman Sachs and two hedge funds GoldenTree Asset Management and Avenue Capital own the hotel, which has come a long way since they rescued the debt-ridden country three years ago.
For 2014, it reported a 63.5% increase in underlying profits to £66.2mln, with revenues up almost 15%.
Big bank Barclays (LON:BARC) was making headlines, with news, reported in the Times, that it wants to cut 30,000 jobs within two years as it looks to ramp up its cost-cutting programme.
The most actively traded stock (which it often is) was Motive Television (LON:MTV), which saw 405.74mln shares change hands.
Today, the group said it had struck an agreement with maritime communications group MTN, which extends the reach of its BYOD TV (bring your own device) technology.
In tech news, few would claim they couldn't see the irony in news that customers data had been stolen from Ashley Madison - a dating website for married people who want to have an affair.
Hackers said they had obtained information including "all the customers' secret sexual fantasies and matching credit card transactions".
Some account data has already been published online, it was also revealed.
Traders were keen to keep track of the gold price on Monday after it sank to a five year low on the back of easing tensions in Greece, fears of a rate hike in the USA and a sell-off in China.
Tomco Energy (LON:TOM) was the biggest gainer in London, with shares adding over 33% after last week it confirmed it had reached its key strategic goal for the Holliday Block shale oil project in Utah.
London open
London opened higher with the headlines made by gold and a momentous week for Greece
The FTSE100 added 20 points to 6,795 as Greek banks reopen after the system received life-saving cash from the ECB.
Angela Merkel, whose German parliament signed off on the £60bn rescue package last week, has said she wants withdrawal limits swiftly lifted in the country.
The easing of the Greece crisis had a knock-on effect on the price of gold, which slumped to a five year low of US$1,107 over the weekend on expectations that a rise in US interest rates is not far away.
Reports today suggested that a sale of five tonnes in China on Friday had sent the already weak price tumbling further.
The sale represented 20% of a normal day’s volume in just two minutes.
Miners Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) and Fresnillo (LON:FRES) were two of the worst performers today, shedding 2% to 3,914p and 2.5% to 642p respectively.
Other fallers included Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS) down 6p to 538p, Prudential (LON;PRU) was also 1% lower at 1,618p after US broker Jefferies cut its rating to ‘hold’ from buy.
Sports Direct (LON;SPD), up 17p to 764p and Sage (LON:SGE), 8p better at 539p, led the risers.
Computer aided design group Aveva (LON:AVV) dominated the headlines outside the FTSE 100.
The company was one of the biggest risers of the day as it signed a deal to merge with Schneider Electric’s.
The deal, worth £1.3bn, will see Schneider pay £550mln plus assets for a 53% stake in the enlarged company. Shares in Aveva shot up 30% to 2,311p.
In small caps, Sabien Technology (LON:SNT) issued new shares to raise £770,000 to support a new, more aggressive, roll-out strategy for its boiler efficiency product. Shares jumped 10.5% to 7.18p.
Rising further still was Cluff Natural Resources (LON:CLNR) after it said significant progress has been made to accelerate the development of its underground coal gasification (UCG) assets in the Southern North Sea. Shares rocketed 15.4% to 3.75p.
Plans for an expansion of the Ming copper mine owned by Rambler Metals & Mining (LON:RMM) moved one step closer today with the release of a pre-feasibility study designed to show the economic potential of a development of the lower footwall zone. Shares in Rambler jumped 14.87% to 11.2p.
Meanwhile, Tomco Energy (LON:TOM) continued to build on Friday’s gains, climbing 44% to 0.26p.
The company said it received all necessary permits to take the Holliday Block shale oil project in Utah into production and development after being granted a ground water discharge permit and a construction permit.
It wasn’t all good news, however, as Chinese home products company Jiasen International (LON:JSI) said chief financial officer Kian Tan has resigned for "personal family reasons". Shares lost 14% to 5.38p.
Elsewhere, 88 energy (LON:88E) fell 19.23% to 0.5p after its shares were suspended in Australia pending an announcement about a capital raise.
Pre-Open
Britain’s top shares are poised to open higher after a momentous week for Greece last week and Asian shares were largely flat on Monday.
The FTSE100 closed out Friday at 6,775 , around 21 points down, but today, financial spreadbetters at IG Index, are calling it to open around ten points to the good.
Later today, sees Greek banks reopen after the systems has been flushed with life-saving cash from the ECB.
Angela Merkel, whose German parliament signed off on the £60bn rescue package last week, has said she wants withdrawal limits swiftly lifted in the country.
Tokyo is closed for a public holiday, but in China, where there has recently been an unprecedented share sell-off, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 12 points to 3,969 at the time of writing.
In the US on Friday, the Dow Jones closed down 34, at 18,086
In corporate news this week, property firms are set to feature heavily but there is also an update from consumer goods giant Unilever (LON:ULVR) on Thursday.
Concerns about growth in emerging markets will come to the fore, after first quarter year-on-year growth slowed to 5.4% from 5.7% in 2014.