(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)CLOSER The full weight of the Greek saga made its presence felt on Footsie at the close as traders pondered whether a debt deal really will be struck this weekend. Its international creditors have given the country a weekend deadline to reach consensus with the Eurozone ahead of market open on Monday. Otherwise it risks defaulting on a €1.6bn repayment due to the IMF on June 30 (Tuesday). Another meeting starts again tomorrow as any thoughts of a quiet restful weekend for officials concerned has been blown out of the water. It will be the fifth Eurogroup meeting in nine days. Chris Beauchamp at spreadbetters IG noted: "The week ends much as it began with Greece at the top of the agenda. "It appears that we were too eager last week to declare that Greece had entered the last chance saloon; this weekend is the final opportunity for a deal. Despite the failure to hammer out an agreement eurozone indices have still made gains on expectations that a deal will be struck.." FTSE100 closed the day around 54 points down at 6753. Tesco (LON:TSCO) was the good news story of the day and investors must have been laughing in the aisles as the supertanker was top riser on Footsie. It revealed the decline had slowed in the first quarter of the new financial year. Claiming success chief executive Dave Lewis said the supermarket's new strategy which is less dependent on short-term couponing is starting to have an effect. Shares added 2.71% to stand at 223.65p. Also up was Sainsbury's (LON:SBRY) and Morrison's (LON:MRW) which rose on the tide. Chip designer ARM Holdings (LON:ARM) was the biggest laggard after it was handed a downgrade from broker Bernstein. It moved the rating to 'underperform' from 'market perform' and cut the target price. Shares slipped 5.05% to 1090p. Miners were also heading south Anglo American (LON:AAL) fell 3.54% to 959.67p. Glencore (LON:GLEN) and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) also both lost over 2.5%. Among notable small cap movers was Tissue Regenix (LON:TRX) whose shares nudged up 8.11% to 20p as it received another boost for its skin graft product Dermapure in the US with reimbursement approval from two more Medicare administrators. Noridian Healthcare Solutions and Palmetto GBA's green light means DermaPure is now available to 20.7mln patients on Medicare across 30 states. Another riser was mining group Stratex (LON:STI) which rose 5.71% to 1.85p after seeing strong gains yesterday after it said the construction of the Altintepe gold mine in Turkey will be finished in August. The UK junior has a 45% stake in the gold mine and said pre-operational testing will start then followed by hot commissioning and ultimately full-scale production. Also rising was Allergy Therapeutics (LON:AGY) up 4.07% to 22.375p. Yesterday the company announced a kick-start to its US growth ambitions. Following what it called "productive" talks with the all important US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the pharma group is to resume its clinical programme of grass allergy product Pollinex Quattro in a bid to take it through to a market launch in 2019. Conversely Mwana Africa (LON:MWA) shares slipped around 15% to 1.5p as it revealed it is in talks to appoint a new nominated adviser (nomad) and broker after Peel hunt served notice to quit. Peel Hunt's stint as nomad will end on July 25 by which time Mwana should have a replacement on board otherwise trading in the company's shares on AIM will be suspended until an appointment is made. Red Rock Resources (LON:RRR) added 8.33% to 0.065p as it reported on the final results of Australia based miner Jupiter Mines in which it has a 1.2% stake. US OPEN US equities started Friday generally on the front foot putting behind losses yesterday and as corporate earnings cheered. The benchmark Dow is up 100 points or around a half percent at 17987 while the S&P500 gained four to 2106. However the tech heavy Nasdaq dragged heels losing nine to stand at 5103. The mood may be tempered by the continued Greece debacle which has been hitting global indices. The latest is no deal in sight but that Athens has been told it must reach one by the end of the weekend - ahead of market open and its Tuesday repayment deadline. Earlier David Madden at IG Index said: "Even if all goes well it could be Tuesday before the Greek government will pass a deal and that is assuming an agreement is struck over the weekend. "The history of the eurozone debt crisis has taught us that a deal is reached at the last minute and traders are quietly confident a compromise will be reached." Among corporate news sports shoes and fashion chain Nike added almost 5% as investors were cheered by its quarterly results yesterday and the figures topped analysts' estimates. Revenue for the Nike Brand was up 13% to US$7.4 billion not including foreign currency changes. Another gainer was New York quoted Tenet Healthcare which built on gains from yesterday as it was upgraded by Wells Fargo. Meanwhile in the UK London shares were lower but not down as much as earlier. The big winner was Tesco (LON:TSCO) as it revealed the decline had slowed in the first quarter of the new financial year. Claiming success chief executive Dave Lewis said the supermarket's new strategy which is less dependent on short-term couponing is starting to have an effect. Shares were lifted 3.42% while Sainsbury's and Morrison's also gained. Also chatter today has been swirling around 888 Holdings (LON:888) and that it is set to put in a bid of 125p per share in the takeover battle for Bwin.party (LON:BPTY). The offer currently stands at 99p. 888 shares are down 3.86% to 155.5p. LUNCH The big grocers were on the up Friday but investors were fearful and FTSE100 was down 41 at 6767 at the lunchtime point. It comes as the weekend has been cancelled for Euro big wigs and the Greek officials as the Mediterranean country has been told it must reach agreement this weekend on its debt deal ahead of market open on Monday. It comes after the latest meeting yielded.... well..nothing. Investors in supermarkets must have been laughing in the aisles today as supertanker Tesco (LON:TSCO) was top riser on Footsie as it revealed the decline had slowed in the first quarter of the new financial year. Claiming success chief executive Dave Lewis said the supermarket's new strategy which is less dependent on short-term couponing is starting to have an effect. Shares were lifted 3.10% to 224.5p while sector peers Sainsbury's (LON:SBRY) added 1.68% to 279p and Morrison's (LON:MRW) rose 1.53% to 185.9p. Often featured in the top five (losers or risers) was chip designer ARM Holdings (LON:ARM) after it was handed a downgrade from broker Bernstein. It moved the rating to 'underperform' from 'market perform' and cut the target price. ABF (LON:ABF) food giant and Primark owner was also down 1.52% to 2978% as a note came out from US broker Jefferies which reiterated a 'hold'. Among notable small cap movers was Tissue Regenix (LON:TRX) whose shares nudged up 8.78% to 1.62p as it received another boost for its skin graft product Dermapure in the US with reimbursement approval from two more Medicare administrators. Noridian Healthcare Solutions and Palmetto GBA's green light means DermaPure is now available to 20.7mln patients on Medicare across 30 states. Another riser was mining group Stratex (LON:STI) which rose 4.29% to 1.82p after seeing strong gains yesterday after it said the construction of the Altintepe gold mine in Turkey will be finished in August. The UK junior has a 45% stake in the gold mine and said pre-operational testing will start then followed by hot commissioning and ultimately full-scale production. Also rising was Allergy Therapeutics (LON:AGY) up 4.07% to 22.38p. Yesterday the company announced a kick-start to its US growth ambitions. Following what it called "productive" talks with the all important US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the pharma group is to resume its clinical programme of grass allergy product Pollinex Quattro in a bid to take it through to a market launch in 2019. Health-focused wearable device specialist CloudTag's (LON:CTAG) chairman Tony Reeves hailed the progress made this year under new chief executive Amit Ben-Haim today. Shares in the stock were lifted 8.7% to 3.125p 'The vital focusing of the business brought about by Amit is evidenced in the market announcements made by the company thus far' Reeves said in the company's interims. Conversely Mwana Africa (LON:MWA) shares slipped 16.9% to 1.475p as it revealed it is in talks to appoint a new nominated adviser (nomad) and broker after Peel hunt served notice to quit. Peel Hunt's stint as nomad will end on July 25 by which time Mwana should have a replacement on board otherwise trading in the company's shares on AIM will be suspended until an appointment is made. MOST FOLLOWED With global markets seeing red supermarkets the Greece crisis and mining stocks were a focus for investors on the last day of the trading week. It looks like the Greece talks will go right down to the wire and it is still debatable whether any agreement will be struck ahead of Tuesday's €1.6bn debt repayment deadline. Reporters and analysts are on tenterhooks as Greek Premier Tsipras is reportedly today meeting the German and French leaders Merkel and Hollande after 24 hours of talks failed to reach agreement. Athens has now been given a deadline of this weekend before markets open Monday. We've been getting used to bad news from supermarket supertanker Tesco (LON:TSCO) but today there was something to cheer - as it emerged the decline had slowed in the first quarter of the new financial year. It also sent Tesco's to the top of the Footsie leader board with Sainsbury's (LON:SBRY) and Morrisons (LON:MRW) rising on the tide. Like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to May 30 reduced by 1.3% which compares favourably to the corresponding period of last year when sales were down 4%. Claiming success chief executive Dave Lewis said the supermarket's new strategy which is less dependent on short-term couponing is starting to have an effect. Also in the news was curtains and linen firm Dunelm (LON:DNLM) shared nudged 0.16% lower as it said John Browett would become chief executive next year as he became designate of the job. Browett will join the board on July 1 and become chief executive on Jan. 1 after a six-month induction period it was reported. ARM Holdings (LON:ARM) was the biggest loser as the chip designer was handed a downgrade from broker Bernstein. It moved the rating to 'underperform' from 'market perform' and cut the target price. Among the small cap movers was Tissue Regenix (LON:TRX) whose shares nudged up almost 10% as it received another boost for its skin graft product Dermapure in the US with reimbursement approval from two more Medicare administrators. Noridian Healthcare Solutions and Palmetto GBA's green light means DermaPure is now available to 20.7mln patients on Medicare across 30 states. Mwana Africa (LON:MWA) shares slipped as it revealed it is in talks to appoint a new nominated adviser (nomad) and broker after Peel hunt served notice to quit. Peel Hunt's stint as nomad will end on July 25 by which time Mwana should have a replacement on board otherwise trading in the company's shares on AIM will be suspended until an appointment is made. Health-focused wearable device specialist CloudTag's (LON:CTAG) chairman Tony Reeves hailed the progress made this year under new chief executive Amit Ben-Haim today. Shares in the stock were lifted. 'The vital focusing of the business brought about by Amit is evidenced in the market announcements made by the company thus far' Reeves said in the company's interim results. FTSE OPENER London backtracked with the rest of Europe as the Greece saga rumbled on towards no seeming conclusion. FTSE100 was 53 points lower at 6755 as investors contemplated another weekend of threats counter threats and Cassandra-esque predictions between Greece and creditors ahead of next Tuesday's €1.6bn debt repayment deadline. The Eurogroup ministers will have to give up another weekend to meet tomorrow with a summit now planned for Sunday. Greece's parliament meanwhile has to debate any new proposals for at least two days said insiders. Another beating for Chinese stocks overnight also soured the mood. The Shanghai Composite crashed 188 points (4.2%) to 4340 while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was 414 points (1.5%) in the hole at 26732. Back in the UK Tesco (LON:TSCO) was the star turn despite another set of weak sales numbers. Shares in the beleaguered supermarket rose by 3% to 225p as the like-for-like fall of 1.3% in the 113 weeks to May was seen as better than feared. Trinity Mirror (LON:TNI) did not fare so well with the shares 4% lower as it announced extra cost cuts to offset a challenging environment in print advertising. Among the small caps regenerative med-tech Tissue Regenix (LON:TRX) rose 11% to 20.5p as it received Medicare approval in the US for its skin graft across a further 16 states. Red Rock Resources (LON:RRR) jumped 12% 0067p to as it took an option over a private company with on shore oil assets in Benin. Stamp and collectibles specialist Stanley Gibbons (LON:SGI) edged higher as underlying profits edged up in its latest year. Shares rose 3% to 256.5p.
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