London - Britain's top share index was steady on Thursday, with caution over events in Greece offset by gains in Dixons Carphone after the electrical goods and mobile phone retailer struck a US deal.
Dixons Carphone rose 3.3 percent after saying it signed with Sprint to open and manage Sprint-branded stores in the US.
Analysts welcomed the deal by the retailer, which was formed last year from the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse.
“It's quite a smart move. There were a few questions over Carphone Warehouse's business model. They've diversified with the merger with Dixons, but expanding into the States... makes a lot of sense,” Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets, said.
Britain's FTSE 100 was flat at 6,609.29 points at 08h13 GMT.
Traders said that strong moves in either direction were unlikely ahead of the weekend, when Greece is set to vote in a referendum over its international creditors' bailout proposals.
The market has been hostage in recent days to fluctuating sentiment over the Greek debt crisis. With creditors saying that they would not restart negotiations before the vote, traders said on Thursday the market did not want to make firm bets on any one outcome.
“The market is arguably waiting for some fresh direction,” said Tony Cross, market analyst at Trustnet Direct.
“The political grandstanding continues over the Greek debt talks and although the next key indicator here is likely to be the result of Sunday's referendum, there's still the prospect of either side throwing in a firework.”
The FTSE 100 closed 1.2 percent up on Wednesday after falling to 5-1/2 month lows earlier in the week. The index is about 7 percent below a record high of 7,122.74 points reached in late April.
Top faller was Intertek, down 3.7 percent after it was downgraded to “underperform” by Jefferies, citing its exposure to oil and gas industries that have been hit by a fall in prices.
“We are concerned that the depth and the duration of the oil and gas downgrades will be a negative surprise, particularly with regards to margins from price pressure,” analysts at Jefferies said in a note.
Babcock, British Land, Burberry, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling and Royal Mail traded without entitlement to their latest dividend payout, which trimmed a further 1.7 points off the FTSE 100, by Reuters calculations.
Reuters