London shares fell on Monday amid ongoing wrangling over Greece's debts and as megabank HSBC dropped after reports it helped clients dodge taxes.
The benchmark FTSE 100 index shed 16.29 points or 0.24 percent to close at 6,837.15 points.
Greece was locked in intense talks with its EU partners after Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras stuck to his anti-austerity guns with the deadline for a deal needed to avoid the risk of default just days away.
"European equities are trading sharply lower... as a speech by Tsipras over the weekend is putting pressure on stocks," said analyst Markus Huber at brokerage Peregrine and Black.
"Tsipras clearly indicated that he wonât be going back on any of his election campaign promises regarding reversing austerity measures.
"With an emergency meeting concerning the situation in Greece by the eurozone only two days away, chances appear rather slim for a compromise, which heightens the risk of a possible Greek default and exit out of the euro in just a few months from now," Huber said.
HSBC dropped 1.64 percent to 610.60 pence in the wake of the unveiling online of a "SwissLeaks" cache of secret files.
The documents published at the weekend allege HSBC's Swiss division helped clients in more than 200 countries evade taxes on accounts containing $119 billion (104 billion euros).
"HSBC profited from doing business with arms dealers who channelled mortar bombs to child soldiers in Africa, bag men for Third World dictators, traffickers in blood diamonds and other international outlaws," the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reported.
HSBC's Swiss banking arm insisted it has since undergone a "radical transformation".
The FTSE closed off its intraday lows, shored up by gains in mining stocks. Fresnillo climbed 4.19 percent to 896 pence, Glencore put on 3.84 percent to 275.60 pence and Anglo American improved 3.36 percent to 1,184 pence.
Pharmaceuticals maker Shire was the sharpest faller, shedding 3.48 percent to 4,471 pence. Insurer RSA lost 3.37 percent to 439 pence and United Utilities sank 3.12 percent to 962.50 pence.
On the currency markets, sterling weakened to $1.5213 at 5:25 pm from $1.5247 before the weekend and to 1.3433 euros from 1.3462 euros on Friday night. AFP