London’s main index struggled to bounce back from earl losses as mining and oil stocks weighed.
“Despite the rare appearance of a bit of green in the commodity sector, Brent Crude is still holding firm at 6 month lows whilst copper isn’t too far away from last week’s 6 year nadir” Connor Campbell at Spreadex said.
This spelled more bad news for Footsie’s oil and mining stocks, with BP (LON:BP) down 1.2% to 381p, Shell (LON:RDSB) 1.6% lower to 1,874p and Anglo American (LON:AAL) down 1.85% to 785p, leading the fallers.
In Greece, Athens officials are quite hopeful about achieving the third bailout, but UK traders don’t seem share their optimistic outlook.
“The Greece government seem to think getting its hands on the money will be a doddle, but some creditors are not so willing to hand over the cash just like that” broker IG said.
According to reports, German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert suggested that Merkel and co. might not be the biggest fans of the pace of the deal’s progress, favouring thoroughness over hast.
Reports of an impending, and successful, end to the third bailout negotiations appear to have helped the DAX and CAC maintain their mild growth, up 43 points to 11,534 and 21 points to 5,176 respectively, but did not help the FTSE 100, which lost almost 50 points to 6,670.
In M&A news on the index, UK pharma giant Shire (LON:SHP) continues to be shunned by takeover target Baxalta as it goes on the charm offensive with shareholders.
Shire has reportedly been holding ‘encouraging’ talks with Baxalta’s shareholders over the last couple of days to try and persuade them to the benefits of a deal. Shares were 1% higher to 5,353p.
Away from the FTSE 100, Vehicle insurance provider esure (LON:ESUR) blamed a hike in the number of UK road accidents for its first half profit fall and interim dividend cut.
The Sheila's Wheels insurance and GoCompare.com comparison site owner, said its “combined operating ratio”, which measures claims and expenses as a percentage of premiums, rose to 95.8% from 91% in the six months previous. Shares dropped 10.9% to 236p.
Conversely, Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) is likely to resume operations at its iron-ore mining operations in Goa today after receiving the necessary approvals. Shares jumped almost 10% to 490p.
In the world of small caps, shares in Fitbug (LON:FITB), a UK pioneer in wearable technology, fell almost 30% to 2.85p after it unveiled a £1.67mln fundraise and the restructuring of its debts.
The new stock was issued at 2.5p a share, which compares to a closing price on Friday of 4p.
Meanwhile, a multi-national company that was set to back Independent Oil & Gas (LON:IOG) has got cold feet over its proposed investment because of falling oil prices.
The announcement was made after the market closed on Friday and shares dropped almost 45% to just under 6.5p.
Elsewhere, Amur Minerals (LON:AMC) signed a collaborative agreement with the Russian government's Far East and Baikal Region Development Fund to help attract investment for its Kun-Manie nickel development. Shares climbed 10% to 18p.
Timber and biomass supply specialist Active Energy (LON:AEG) has named a legal and corporate finance expert as a new non-exec director. Investors cheered the news, sending shares 10% higher to 6.5%.