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FTSE 100 slips by 0.21 pct on Greece

Xinhua, February 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

FTSE 100 Index, British benchmark stock market gauge, Wednesday closed lower by 14.25 points, or 0.21 percent, to 6,935.38, as renewed concerns over Greek debt problem weighing on the market.

Wolfgang Schauble, Germany's finance minister, told German media that there was "a lot of doubt" as to whether Greece would stick to the new plan or not.

Greece still needs the vote from several euro zone member states to secure its request. A test vote from the parliament of Germany is expected on Thursday, followed by the final vote on Friday.

On the same day, HSBC plc's two top bosses Wednesday apologized for its Swiss unit's "unacceptable" practice on dodging tax for its clients.

Stuart Gulliver, group chief executive of HSBC, and Douglas Flint, chairman of HSBC, were answering questions from British Members of Parliament (MPs) of the House of Commons Treasury Committee Wednesday afternoon.

Weir Group led the top losers of the blue chips with a share price drop of 8.75 percent, followed by Standard Chartered (2.56 percent), Smiths Group (2.24 percent), GKN (2.11 percent) and Intertek Group (1.94 percent).

St James's Place's share price increased by 4.26 percent, topped the gainers of the blue chips. Prices of Sky, Whitbread, Mondi and Kingfisher advanced by 3.18 percent, 2.74 percent, 2.29 percent and 2.17 percent respectively.

Trading in FTSE 100 companies was 10 percent higher than the 30-day average. And the index has gained 6.15 percent so far this year in U.S. dollar term. Endit