By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
U.K. stocks fell Thursday, pulling back from a nearly three-week
high, as a reported deal between Greece and its creditors failed to
materialize. But gains for some domestic retailers helped cushion
the loss on the benchmark FTSE 100.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.4% to 7,008.66, paced by declines among
the key commodity and financial sectors. In those groups, miner
Anglo American PLC fell 2.1%, BP PLC (BP) was down 1% and HSBC
Holdings PLC moved 1.2% lower.
The blue-chip index on Wednesday jumped 1.2%,
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/london-stocks-on-track-to-break-winning-streak-2015-05-26)
rising along with other European stock markets, after Greece's
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said debt-strapped Athens was getting
close to a deal with international creditors.
But other key European officials late Wednesday rebuffed the
suggestion, saying talks were still ongoing. International Monetary
Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a TV interview
that she "would not say that we already have reached substantial
results," according to a Reuters report.
Among advancers, shares of Sports Direct International PLC
climbed 3.6% as the retailer said underlying pretax profit and
per-share earnings for the year ended April 26 are ahead of market
expectations
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sports-direct-sees-yearly-figures-above-estimates-2015-05-28).
Kingfisher PLC shares tacked on 3.1% after the home-improvement
retailer reported a 0.8% rise in first-quarter same-store sales
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kingfisher-posts-rise-in-same-store-sales-2015-05-28),
with retail profit in constant currencies up 1.4% at 150 million
pounds ($230 million).
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