OREANDA-NEWS. February 17, 2015. Britain's top share index retreated from five-month highs on Monday, with leading companies such as miner Fresnillo and utility Centrica hit by broker downgrades.

Investors also adopted a cautious approach as Greece's finance minister prepared to meet his euro zone peers and European Central Bank (ECB) head Mario Draghi on Monday to discuss how to proceed with his country's bailout programme, which runs out on Feb. 28.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was down 0.2 percent at 6,861.02 points going into the middle of the trading session, retreating from a five-month high reached on Friday.

Gold and silver miner Fresnillo was the worst-performing FTSE 100 stock in percentage terms, falling 4 percent after Morgan Stanley cut its rating on Fresnillo to "equal weight" from "overweight".

Centrica also fell 2.5 percent after investment bank Citigroup cut its price target on Centrica's shares.

Kyri Kangellaris, director at Horizon Stockbroking, said he would rather be "short" - betting on falls - on the FTSE than be "long" and bet on gains.

"The market is in a bit of a wait-and-see mode at the moment, because of Greece. I'd rather be 'short' than 'long' at these levels," he said. Online gambling firm 888 Holdings also dropped 12 percent after talks on a takeover by William Hill ended.

However, bid speculation drove up the shares of drinks group SABMiller by 1.9 percent, after the Mail on Sunday reported that investment firm 3G Capital has been weighing up a 75 billion pound (\\$115 billion) bid for SABMiller.