(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)The UK's top index ended the first session of the week lower despite Greek debt fears outweighed takeover chatter. European markets were much lower with Frankfurt's Dax 30 index and the CAC 40 index in Paris both dropping around 1.2%. Investors were spooked by anxiety over Greece's decision on Friday decision to defer a €300million (£220million) repayment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) until the end of the month. In the UK the FTSE 100 eased 14.5 points to 6790 despite a plethora of takeover rumours. Smirnoff owner Diageo (LON:DGE) is rumoured to have caught the eye of Jorge Paulo Lemann. The 3G capital backer who recently was behind the Heinz-Kraft merger has a stake in rival Anheuser-Busch InBev and appears to want to add another drinks company to his portfolio. Shares jumped almost 6.8% to 1880p. Meanwhile the increasing talk of a tie-up between Vodafone (LON:VOD) and its American counterpart Liberty Global refuses to die down. Last week Vodafone said it was in talks to swap assets with Liberty but reports over the weekend suggest Liberty is still eyeing up a full-blown merger. Shares in Vodafone gained almost 2p to 244p. Away from potential mergers pharma giant Shire (LON:SHP) ended the day at the bottom of the FTSE 100 slipped following a report it is mulling a £12bn takeover bid for rival Actelion. It would be the second acquisition of the year after Shire snapped up US firm NPs in January. Shire's shares eased 1.87% to 5352p on the news. In small caps Sierra Leone focused mining group Sula Iron & Gold (LON:SULA) revealed its chief executive Nick Warrell had been awarded the title of 'Best European CEO in the Mining Industry 2015' by the publication European CEO. Warrell has written an article about mining in Sierra Leone as it emerges following the Ebola crisis and the iron ore price fall which can be read in this month's edition of the European CEO magazine. Shares in Sula added 8.77% to 1.55p on the day. Armadale Capital (LON:ACP) was the biggest gainer of the day jumping 175% to 0.062p on news it has secured a US$20mln project finance deal to bring to its Mpokoto gold mine in DRC into production. Elsewhere Law firm Gateley joined the AIM market after a 95p per share placing raised £30 million. The firm which has a market cap of £100 million was up 4p to 99p. On the downside Renewable Energy Holdings (LON:REH) said in its end of year results its financial position was dependent on the approval of its planning permission for its Welsh wind farm. Shares dropped 32% to 1.41p.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.