London close: Stocks lower on mixed messages from Greece

London stocks closed slightly lower on Tuesday, as mixed messages from Greece extended investor uncertainty.

At close, the FTSE 100 was 0.36% lower at 6,928.27.

Reports that Greece's creditors had agreed on proposals circulated early in the afternoon, although Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem later dismissed the rumours, adding that a deal over the country’s bailout was "not theoretically possible this week".

“Traders don’t like being left in the dark, and if they are kept there for too long their anxiety gets the better of them and a sell-off ensues,” warned David Madden, market analyst at IG. “Greece has years of practice of tough negotiating but on this occasion the stakes are even higher, and the nation is days away from defaulting.”

In data, the Bank of England revealed that British mortgage approvals grew at their fastest pace in six years in April, totaling 68,076, ahead of expectations of a 63,000 reading.

Eurozone Inflation returned in May, as a 0.3% rise in the consumer prices index (CPI), higher than the 0.2% predicted. That was the first rise in prices in the Eurozone in six months, as the European Central Bank's asset-buying programme seemed to have gained traction.

Stateside, US factory orders declined for the eighth time in nine months in April, figures released on Tuesday showed. According to the Commerce Department, orders for goods produced in US factories fell 0.4% month-on-month in April, a sharper drop than the 0.1% analysts had expected.

The dollar was up against most major world currencies, while oil and precious metals futures edged higher.

Sector-wise, real estate stocks reversed Monday's gains, while oil, energy and mining stocks including Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Antofagasta, Premier Oil, Cairn Energy, Soco International and Hunting rebounded.

British American Tobacco topped the fallers after a class-action lawsuit in Canada found that the company and two other cigarette makers should pay a combined C$15.6bn (£8.2bn) to smokers in "moral and punitive damages", the largest legal award in Canadian history. Sector-peer Imperial Tobacco Group also plunged on the news.

British Land was in the red as it unveiled plans to launch a £350m senior, unsecured convertible bonds offering by 2020. The company plans to use the net proceeds to fund the £210m acquisition of One Sheldon Square, Paddington Central in April 2015, the £135m acquisition of Surrey Quays Leisure Park, Canada Water in March 2015 and to fund committed development spending.

Tesco dipped after seeing its share of the grocery market decline to 28.6% over the 12 weeks to 24 May, according to Kantar Worldpanel. Sainsbury was also lower, as sales fell 0.3% over the monitoring period, while Morrison gained on a sales increase of 0.1%.

Wolseley surged after registering a sharp rise in quarterly profits, thanks favourable tailwinds form the currency market. The heating and plumbing products distributor, which has a large exposure to the US market, reported a 16.6% increase in revenues for the third quarter of its fiscal year to reach £3,301m.

AO World plunged as the online white goods retailer's final results revealed a £2.9m loss before tax amid challenging UK market conditions. However, the company continued to take market share and for the year to 31 March, revenues were up 24% to £476.7m, UK website sales were up 32.9% and total UK revenue increased by 22.3%.

Market Movers

techMARK 3,301.04 -0.33%
FTSE 100 6,926.44 -0.39%
FTSE 250 18,225.68 +0.03%

Risers
Anglo American (AAL) 1,048.50p +4.54%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 768.00p +3.36%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,899.00p +2.28%
Wolseley (WOS) 4,094.00p +1.87%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 172.50p +1.83%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,382.00p +1.66%
Glencore (GLEN) 286.35p +1.63%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,206.00p +1.34%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,169.00p +1.04%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 344.80p +1.00%

Fallers
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,207.00p -2.99%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,501.00p -2.55%
British Land Company (BLND) 854.00p -2.06%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,581.00p -1.98%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,297.00p -1.97%
Hammerson (HMSO) 660.00p -1.93%
Diageo (DGE) 1,783.50p -1.90%
Intu Properties (INTU) 327.90p -1.80%
Shire Plc (SHP) 5,510.00p -1.78%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,170.00p -1.77%

Risers
PayPoint (PAY) 1,062.00p +8.37%
Premier Oil (PMO) 167.50p +7.23%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,948.00p +4.62%
Soco International (SIA) 187.70p +4.39%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 254.50p +4.00%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 178.70p +3.90%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 591.50p +3.59%
Laird (LRD) 401.70p +3.37%
NMC Health (NMC) 790.00p +3.34%
Lonmin (LMI) 141.30p +2.91%

Fallers
Foxtons Group (FOXT) 269.50p -5.27%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 443.20p -3.69%
AO World (AO.) 170.00p -3.52%
Booker Group (BOK) 176.40p -2.81%
Card Factory (CARD) 364.90p -2.69%
Savills (SVS) 939.50p -2.59%
Workspace Group (WKP) 913.50p -1.98%
BTG (BTG) 695.00p -1.97%
Redefine International (RDI) 53.70p -1.83%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 547.00p -1.80%