FTSE100 closed lower on Thursday as the mood was one of caution as oil prices dropped and UK retail sales disappointed.
The UK benchmark was around 12 down at 6,655.
ARM Holdings (LON:ARM) was the biggest gainer, up 4.64% to 1,015p as investors came back after yesterday’s fall as Apple numbers - its main customer- missing expectations.
The big news was Pearson (LON:PSON), however, whose shares lifted over 2% as it emerged that it was selling the business that owns the Financial Times to Japan's Nikkei for £844mln.
Pearson announced the sale to the Japanese business media group after saying earlier on Thursday that it was in advanced talks with a mystery bidder.
The news came after the FT itself ran a story on Thursday saying the potential buyer was media group Axel Springer, which owns German mass market daily Das Bild.
The biggest laggard was Aberdeen Asset Management, which dropped over 7% to 369.10p on news of a fall in assets under management to £307.3bn from £330.6bn at the end of March, affected by market conditions and currency movements.
Sainsbury's (LON:SBRY) was also knocked - 2.20% lower as UK retail sales fell unexpectedly by 0.2% last month against a month earlier as shoppers bought fewer household goods.
The annual rate of sales growth fell to 4% from 4.7% in May - its slowest since September last year. Analysts had expected a rise.
Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS) shed 1.5% to stand at 527p a pop.
The oil price slipped today and Brent crude was down 0.2% to US$56.02 at the time of writing.
It was driven by higher-than-expected oil inventories and demand concerns drove crude prices down, prompting investors to ditch oil and gas majors.
Chris Beauchamp, at IG, said: "In the post-Greek crisis world, it has been good to have a day of unexpected developments, namely UK retail sales and the sale of the FT.
"The pound’s steady progress higher, which has continued in expectation of higher UK interest rates in the near future, was rudely interrupted this morning, as data showed UK consumers did not empty their wallets as freely as hoped in June."
Pot Noodle and Marmite maker Unilever (LON:ULVR) rose 1.61% to 2,905p on news of higher first half turnover and sales in tough markets.
Healthcare services provider Totally (LON:TLY) surged 37.5% to 0.28p as it reported higher half-year turnover and gross profits, while underlying losses narrowed.
In small caps, Cloudbuy (LON:CBUY) added 12.35% to 22.75p as it reported "pleasing" progress in its first half and a £1mln shot in the arm from a US investor.
The AIM-company said the six months to June 30 had seen "increasing traction" globally on its products - resulting in a strong pipeline of potential deals, which had a value of £51mln as at the end of June.
Atlantic Coal (LON:ATC) rose 10% to 0.11p as it saw anthracite sales rise strongly in its latest quarter as it started to sell coal straight from its mine at Stockton, Pennsylvania.
Combined sales of run of mine coal (ROM) and clean coal rose 39% to 61,700 tons compared to the previous three months, with ROM production 12% higher at 161,000 tons.
Clean coal produced was little changed at 45,100 tons despite a 16 day