The London market was lower as anxious traders looked towards Greece's referendum over its eurozone bailout on Sunday.

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has urged the country to vote against austerity proposals, but EU leaders have warned against rejecting the eurozone.

The FTSE 100 Index was down 44.7 points at 6585.8, and has fallen 168 points over the week as politicians prepare the ground for this crucial vote that could see Greece leave the euro.

Germany's Dax and France's Cac 40 were both slightly down.

Trustnet Direct analyst Tony Cross said: "Regardless of the outcome, a degree of volatility on Monday morning seems inevitable - there's no clean outcome for this."

He added: "The expectation is that a verdict from Greece may well be released late on Sunday night - what happens beyond that however is another step into the unknown."

Britain's dominant services sector grew more than expected last month, bouncing back from pre-election uncertainty in May.

The sector posted a reading of 58.5 on the closely-watched CIPS/Markit purchasing managers' index (PMI) survey, in which 50 separates growth from contraction. Economists had expected a reading of 57.3.

But the this news did not greatly impact the pound, which was flat against the US dollar, at 1.56. Sterling was also broadly unchanged against the euro, at 1.40.

Heavyweight miners were down on news that iron ore prices have slipped five per cent. BHP Billiton was 24p lower at 1248.5p, Anglo American fell 15.8p to 902.4p and Glencore was down 3.1p to 252.7p.

Royal Bank of Scotland was also 6.8p down to 359.3p after reports that the bank could face a 13 billion dollar (£8.3 billion) fine from US regulators over claims that it misled investors in mortgage-backed securities.

This weighed on other high street banks with Barclays 3.5p lower at 263p, HSBC down 5.1p to 572.9p and Lloyds Banking Group slipping 1.1p to 85.1p.

BP was an early riser as brokers continued to react to its $18.7 billion (£12 billion) legal settlement in the US on Thursday to cover the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill that killed 11 workers five years ago.

The 18-year deal with federal, state and local authorities, seems to draw a line under the affair and save the firm from further years of costly litigation.

But shares later slipped 3p to 434.4p after rising earlier in the session, and coming on top of a four per cent lift in the previous session .

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 Index were Ashtead down 15p at 1074p, Land Securities up 17p at 1249p, Randgold Resources up 52p at 4260p and British Land up 6p at 807p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 Index were Smiths down 28p at 1134p, Rolls-Royce down 20p at 856.5p, Standard Life down 22.5p at 1031p and Vodafone down 4.8p at 231.1p.