The Footsie briefly ventured above its record closing high this morning, on the back of the tentative bailout extension agreement between Greece and the Eurozone.
The bad news for the bulls is that having risen to 6,944, the FTSE 100 swiftly went into retreat, and after almost an hour of trading was down eight at 6,907.
Chart watcher Mike van Dulken, head of Research at Accendo Markets, in his pre-open email suggested that a rise in the index above 6,970 would be good news for the bulls, while a fall below 6,910 would cheer the bears.
The index was down despite 72 of its constituents being in the blue. Miners were weighing down the index, as was HSBC (LON:HSBA), which was down 20p at 585p, after it emerged that chief executive Stuart Gulliver secretes his bonuses in a Swiss bank account.
The report adds another twist to the Swiss banking scandal in which the group finds itself embroiled. Last week, the offices of an HSBC subsidiary in Geneva were raided by police conducting an investigation into alleged money laundering.
Meanwhile, the company has released its full-year results which show adjusted profit before tax flat at US$22,829mln.
"2014 was a challenging year,” Gulliver said, referring to the company’s results.
Results from Bunzl (LON:BNZL), the distribution group, have been better received. The shares rose to the top of the Footsie leader board, advancing 34p to 1,962p, after its adjusted profit before tax rose 4%, or 11% on a constant currency basis, to £387.8mln.
Elsewhere in the outsourcing sector, insurance claims processor Quindell (LON:QPP) said discussion about the disposal of its professional services division continue with Aussie firm Slater & Gordon, and the sort of numbers being talked about imply a significant premium to the company’s market value as at Friday’s close.
Shares shot up by a quarter to 95.25p, placing a market capitalisation of £430.2mln on the company.