In another volatile day, leading shares lost ground again despite support from the mining sector.
Anglo American added 45.5p to 1048.5p after it saw a rise in sales of iron ore to India, while Rio Tinto rose 67.5p to £29.02 and Antofagasta was up 23.5p at 766.5p.
Overall the FTSE 100 finished down 25.31 points at 6928.27 - its worst level since election day on 7 May - after earlier slipping as low as 6872.
Markets fell sharply as the Greek saga continued, with any agreement between the country and its creditors likely to go to the wire despite a late night meeting on Monday between key politicians and the ECB and IMF. Higher than expected eurozone inflation also unnerved investors, who feared an early end to the ECB’s supportive bond buying programme.
But with hopes of a Greek deal growing through the day markets came off their worst levels.
Among the fallers, tobacco companies came under pressure after a Canadian court awarded smokers C$15.6bn (£8.2bn) in damages. British American Tobacco lost 86.5p to £35.06 and Imperial Tobacco fell 96p to £32.10.
Merlin Entertainments dropped 15.9p to 444.3p following news of an accident at its Alton Towers theme park, with four people reported seriously injured.
But Wolseley added 81p to £41 after an upbeat trading statement from the building materials company.
Among the mid-caps estate agents Foxtons fell 14.3p to 270.2p after a sell note from Peel Hunt, while AO World lost 6.2p to 170p following its latest figures.
De La Rue dipped 2.5p to 519p despite Numis suggesting the banknote printer was a possible bid target.
Synergy Health, whose proposed merger with Steris Corporation is being challenged by US regulators, edged up 7p to £18.20 after a 1.6% rise in full year profits to £43.6m. Canaccord Genuity said:
Synergy reported 2015 results broadly in line with our expectations, though slightly below consensus. The board is not recommending a final dividend (and did not pay an interim) due to the Steris transaction, though a special dividend of 15.8p has been proposed (timing not specified). Following the Federal Trade Commission objection and pending court case, completion is now unlikely before the fourth quarter. We maintain our estimates and hold.
