LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Falls For Second Day Amid Greek Tensions

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks declined for a second straight session on Monday, tracking the rest of Europe lower as finance ministers addressed Greece's debt woes.

The FTSE 100 index dropped 0.5% to 6,876.47, building on a 0.7% loss from Friday.

Equities across Europe kicked off the week on a downbeat note as eurozone finance officials discussed Greece's issues with international creditors over the country's economic-reform proposals. But progress by Athens on reforms related to the four-month extension Greece's bailout program have been slow, said Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/eurogroup-urges-greece-to-speed-up-reform-talks-to-unlock-aid-2015-03-09) leader of the Eurogroup forum of finance ministers, on Monday.

No conclusion about Greece's financing was made by the Eurogroup on Monday, according to Reuters.

In the U.K., shares of WPP PLC turned higher by 1.2%. The advertising giant reporting a rise in full-year earnings (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wpp-posts-rise-in-full-year-profit-2015-03-09-5485429), and said its dividend of 38.2 pence a share would be nearly 12% higher than last year's dividend.

Shares of Glencore PLC gained 2.6% after Exane BNP Paribas lifted the miner's target price by 8% to GBP3.45 ($5.21).

Among the FTSE 100's losing shares, Land Securities PLC gave up 2.1% and British Land Co. PLC fell 1.7%. CMC Markets said in a note that property stocks, which are sensitive to interest rates, were hurt as yields on U.K. government debt increased on the prospect of higher rates in the U.K. as well as in the U.S.

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