Ftse down amid concern over Greece bailout talks

The London market ended lower yesterday with traders concerned that Greece’s debt talks will see it default next week unless a deal is agreed.

The Ftse 100 was down 54.1 points to 6,753.7.

The pound fell against the dollar to $1.57, after consumer sentiment in the US rose this month to the highest level since January, suggesting that spending will strengthen this year. Sterling was a cent up against the euro, at €1.41.

Tesco was the strongest riser on the Ftse, up 5.9p to 223.7p, after the troubled supermarket said it had stemmed its first-quarter sales decline.

The news dragged up rivals with Sainsbury’s 1.9p higher to 276.3p, while Morrisons was up 1.1p at 184.2p.

Apple chip supplier ARM Holdings was the heaviest faller in the top flight as traders weighed up the possibility that Apple may make greater use of an app upgrading service called Bitcode. This may eat into the US computer firm’s reliance on ARM chips. Shares in ARM fell 5%, or 58p at 1090p.

The Daily Mirror-owner Trinity Mirror said it will double its cost savings programme to offset falling sales from print advertising.

The group, which owns a raft of titles spanning the Daily Record to the Liverpool Echo, said in a trading update it expects revenues to slump 11% in the 26 weeks to June 28 compared with a year ago. Shares in Trinity Mirror fell more than 5%, or 8.8p to 150.5p.

The biggest risers on the Ftse were Tesco, Sainsbury’s, BT Group up 3p at 464.2p, and Morrisons.

The biggest fallers were ARM Holdings, Anglo American down 35.2p at 959.6p, BHP Billiton down 34.5p at 1,301.5p, and Glencore down 7p at 266.6p.