(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) Breaching that record Footsie high of 6930 in 1999 nudged a little further from the radar Thursday as London shares slipped almost 12% at mid-session.
The UK benchmark stands at 6848 down 0.17% as investors avoid equities as concerns over Greece again come to the fore.
After what had been some promising noises over the debt ridden country and its bailout package earlier in the week the ECB said yesterday it would lift the waiver on using Greek government bonds as collateral for lending to its banks.
It means the central bank has toughened its by restricting financing to the country's banks sending shares falling.
David Madden from spreadbetter IG said: "The ECB is showing Athens who is boss and the move has crushed Greece under the weight of its own debt.”
The big laggard in London was Anglo-Swedish pharmaceuticals giant () whose shares plunged 3.05% to 4545p as it left the market underwhelmed with its fourth quarter results.
Fourth quarter revenue was 2% below consensus according to broker Jefferies primarily due to lower than expected sales of Nexium and Symbicort.
The group also said it would pay US$600mln for the rights to Actavis’s branded respiratory drugs business in North America.
Commodity giant Glencore () was also down with shares easing 2.10% to 2613p.
On the upside () took to the podium adding 4.65% to 4427p as the market hailed its £12.5bn takeover of EE sealed last night.
The tie-up puts BT on the path to become a quad-play operator - offering fixed line broadband TV and mobile services to its customers.
() added 22.32% to stand at 547.5p as it confirmed it could be bought by US rival Ball Corporation.
told investors it is in talks with Ball over a proposal worth 610p per share which would be paid mostly in cash (one third of the consideration would be made in Ball shares).
In small cap world shares in AfriAg () edged up 1.45% to 0.35p after revealing a new distribution deal that will see produce from Mozambique shipped to UK supermarkets.
A 40%-owned subsidiary of the AIM-listed company has won a contract to transport produce farmed by Vanduzi which is part of Lord ’s Gatsby Foundation.
AfriAg told investors that the majority of the fresh produce will be sold on the shelves of M&S Aldi and Asda.
() added 2.63% to 9.75p. It expects construction to resume shortly at the Raki/Huajache wind project in Chile following disruption over Christmas following a landslide.
Rame which has 20% stake in the project said the obstruction caused by the slide has been cleared with the turbine components now en route and the first tower sections nacelles and drive trains already on site.
() dipped 7.69% to 0.24p after it revealed acquired a technology that rapidly analyses gene expression biomarkers to boost its cancer drug development efforts.
The technology 'Transcript Analysis with the Aid of Affinity Capture' (TRAC) cost €75000 and will be used by ’s biomarker unit based in Finland.
Satu Vainikka ’s chief executive said: "The acquisition of the TRAC technology platform will synergistically strengthen our biomarker development capabilities and our biomarker library at ValiFinn and it will also substantially support our on-going clinical trials programme.
Rare Earth Minerals () added 1.2% to stand at 0.905p as broker WH Ireland started covering the stock with a 'speculative buy' rating and said the group had a diverse portfolio in areas with demonstrated potential including exposure to lithium which is a "metal for the future".
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