London close: Greek concerns weigh on financials

The Footsie finished moderately lower on Monday afternoon as Greek debt crisis dragged on. Financials were among the fallers over concerns of a possible Greek default, as Europe's finance ministers remain at loggerheads over dishing out a chunk of the €110bn bailout money agreed last year for the country. RBS, Man Group, Hargreaves Lansdown and Schroders were the worst four performers on the London blue chip index as of Monday afternoon. Lloyds and Barclays were also heading lower. Not surprisingly, shares reacted with alarm at the continued impasse, especially banks. Barclays Capital (BarCap) said the destiny of Greece is now in the hands of the Greek parliament and the Greek population, with the key risks for markets now coming from the vote of confidence that the new, reshuffled Greek government is organizing. However, the notable faller of the day was Charter International on the FTSE 250. The engineering fell by over a quarter after it warned that figures for 2011 are expected to be below forecasts given in its last update in April as a mixed trading picture emerges. As such, Peel Hunt downgraded the stock to 'hold', from 'buy'.Packaging giant Rexam was unwanted after agreeing to sell its closures business for $360m (£222m) as it seeks to pay back its debts. Temporary power and temperature control provide Aggreko was also providing a drag despite seeing an acceleration in the rate of underlying growth in the second quarter. The oil sector is pressuring the FTSE 250 lower, with Heritage Oil among the worst performers. As of 16:30, Brent crude futures were trading $1.07 lower (-0.95%) at $112.14, while West Texas crude future were $0.32 under (-0.34%) at $92.69.Oil firm Salamander Energy fell after it started drilling its South Sebuku-2 (SS2) appraisal well in the Bengara-1 project in the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan. Sector peer Premier Oil was also under the weather after acquiring a 17.71% interest in the Wytch Farm assets for an initial cash payment of $96m, increasing its stake to 30.1%. Metals prices were on the decline, also, with copper and gold futures trading 0.86% and 0.01% lower. Silver futures were edging up 0.15%.---BC