London close: Losses pared ahead of Greek meeting

-Greek talks enter critical stage.-Shareholders raise questions over terms of Glencore/Xstrata merger.-Defensives in demand as investors flee from risk.Losses were trimmed by the end of trade on Tuesday with reports pointing to progress being made in Greece. Government leaders and international creditors are now working on a final draft of an agreement, a Greek official has told Bloomberg.While miners continued to be a drag on the FTSE 100, financials picked up the slack to erase a near-40 point decline seen earlier in the day.Greece needs to pass these austerity measures to receive approval on the second financing package worth €130bn before a €14.5bn bond payment comes due on March 20th. However, EU officials have marked February 15th as the deadline for the approval to go through in order to have the time necessary for the legal paperwork to be prepared. Markets now await this evening's meeting between the Greek Prime Minister and the leaders of the country's main political parties to put an end to the government's on-going debate over austerity measures.MINERS FALL AS INVESTORS FLEE FROM RISKWith investors escaping from risk, miners were widely sold off, with merger pals Xstrata and Glencore International being the worst performers on the FTSE 100 in late afternoon trade. In what was hoped to be a well-received announcement that Xstrata and Glencore would tie the knot, the opening salvos have been fired in the battle for value over the proposed $90bn merger between the two commodity giants. On one side are the shareholders of Glencore and the managements of both companies (who hold large stakes in their firms). The other faction is made up of unhappy institutional shareholders in Xstrata who believe they are being sold a pup. Xstrata's shares were down nearly 5% at the close to lead the Footsie's fallers, while Glencore wasn't far behind, falling nearly 4%.Adding to the downward pressure today were reports the Chinese Ministry of Industry is anticipating a slowdown in the country's industrial production, as the world economy cools and the European crisis worsens. Mining peers Kazakhmys, ENRC, Antofagasta and Rio Tinto were firmly out of favour, while Randgold Resources was on the fall with a downgrade from buy to hold by Fox-Davies weighing on the stock. Financials were performing well, with Hargreaves Lansdown, Barclays and ICAP among the highest risers. Lloyds however bucked the trend on news that it plans to slash almost 1,000 jobs in the UK and close some offices, according to its employee union, Accord.Oil titan BP was out of favour despite announcing a 14% increase in its quarterly dividend against a full-year replacement cost profit figure of $23,900m, compared with a loss of $4,914m in 2010. The company did warn however that underlying production would be broadly flat in 2012. However, sector peers Cairn Energy, Shell and BG Group were among the better performers tracking brent crude prices higher. Cairn was also being helped by UBS which upped its target price from 291p to 370p today, to reflect the shares going ex-dividend yesterday with a share consolidation.Tobacco stocks were in demand today as investors shifted their weight away from risk and into defensive stocks. Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco were both making decent gains on the FTSE 100. Meanwhile, shares in GlaxoSmithKline took a hit in afternoon trade after the pharmaceuticals giant reported fourth quarter sales that missed forecasts. Nevertheless, the firm upped its total dividend and identified further share buy-backs in the coming year.TALKTALK TOPS THE TABLEInternet and telephone service provider TalkTalk Telecom took first place on the risers list, having raised its full year earnings guidance as projected cost savings come in ahead of schedule. Insurance and reinsurance company Amlin was also performing well after loss estimates arising from the Thai floods were better than expected. "The Thailand loss estimate is within expectations, not as bad as some feared, and we have further clarity on Amlin capitalising on segments of improved pricing," Peel Hunt said.BCFTSE 100 - RisersHargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 460.40p +4.40%Cairn Energy (CNE) 356.60p +3.39%BG Group (BG.) 1,464.50p +2.41%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,179.00p +2.35%Barclays (BARC) 236.80p +2.33%ICAP (IAP) 390.30p +1.91%CRH (CRH) 1,319.00p +1.77%WPP (WPP) 789.00p +1.68%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 699.50p +1.52%Tesco (TSCO) 329.55p +1.46%FTSE 100 - FallersXstrata (XTA) 1,200.00p -4.88%Glencore International (GLEN) 443.25p -3.80%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,295.00p -3.57%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 703.00p -2.56%Admiral Group (ADM) 973.00p -2.55%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,160.00p -2.52%Evraz (EVR) 445.00p -2.20%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,335.00p -2.05%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,869.50p -1.94%Wolseley (WOS) 2,244.00p -1.92%FTSE 250 - RisersTalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 131.50p +10.60%Amlin (AML) 355.20p +5.28%Cranswick (CWK) 841.00p +3.76%Inmarsat (ISAT) 437.20p +3.60%Greggs (GRG) 540.00p +2.76%TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares (TRYS) 68.45p +2.62%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 322.00p +2.52%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 332.00p +2.47%Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) 53.75p +2.38%Shanks Group (SKS) 107.20p +2.00%FTSE 250 - FallersCable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 20.31p -5.09%Kesa Electricals (KESA) 70.25p -5.07%Regus (RGU) 102.00p -4.23%Melrose (MRO) 371.60p -4.23%Victrex (VCT) 1,347.00p -3.92%Morgan Crucible Co (MGCR) 319.10p -3.60%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 118.80p -3.57%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,045.00p -3.51%Homeserve (HSV) 275.00p -3.47%Bumi (BUMI) 768.50p -3.33%