LONDON: European stocks rose Thursday, with Greek shares soaring on optimism that Athens was finally close to a deal with its creditors before the IMF announced they were still "well away" from an agreement.
Athens' main index had shot up 8.16 percent to end the day at 823.16 points.
Europe's main markets were a bit less optimistic. London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies rose 0.24 percent to close at 6,846.74 points.
In the eurozone, the CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.74 percent to end the day at 4,971.37 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 30 rose 0.60 percent to 11,332.78 points.
In foreign exchange activity, the euro fell to $1.1230 from $1.1324 late on Wednesday in New York.
In Brussels Thursday Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said differences remained with European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker after a second round of bailout talks in as many days ended without a deal.
"We are working in order to bridge the remaining differences, especially the differences on fiscal and financial issues," Tsipras said, referring to key sticking points in talks aimed at preventing Athens from defaulting.
"And we're working in order to come to an agreement which will assure that Greece will recover with social cohesion and viable public debt," Tsipras added as a European Commission source told AFP that the Greek leader and Juncker would remain in contact in the coming days.
The agreement to talk further came as the International Monetary Fund in Washington, Greece's most pro-austerity creditor, warned there was no deal in sight.
"There are still major differences between us in most key areas," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters in Washington. "There has been no progress in narrowing these differences recently. Thus we are well away from an agreement."
Greece's creditors have refused to release the last 7.2 billion euros ($8.1 billion) remaining in its EU-IMF bailout, which is due to expire on June 30, unless Athens agrees to tougher reforms.
Without the cash Greece will be unable to pay its debts, after having already ordered local authorities to turn over their cash reserves to meet earlier commitments.
A default could send Greece crashing out of the eurozone, with possibly disastrous consequences for the bloc and beyond.
- US stocks up on retail sales -
Greek hopes earlier had also boosted Asian stock markets, which rallied Thursday additionally on a strong close on Wall Street and upbeat Chinese economic data, traders said.
Data Thursday showed Chinese industrial production reached a three-month high in May while retail sales rebounded from a nine-year low, supporting also European stock markets.
"Helping to boost positive sentiment... are industrial production and retail sales data out of China showing moderate improvements," said Markus Huber, senior analyst at brokers Peregrine & Black.
Wall Street stocks rose Thursday on US retail sales in May increasing by 1.2 percent, according to Commerce Department data, better than the 1.1 percent gain projected by analysts.
Around mid-day in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.30 percent at 18,054.05 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.22 percent to 2,109.74, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.11 percent to 5,082.15.
On the corporate front in Europe, shares in Royal Bank of Scotland gained 1.89 percent to close at 361.50 pence after the British government announced late Wednesday it would begin selling its stake in the bailed-out lender.
In an annual address to the London financial community, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said the government would begin selling its 80-percent stake in RBS, which it rescued with public money at a cost of £45.5 billion ($70.6 billion, 62 billion euros) following the 2008 global financial crisis.
"Ultimately there is unlikely to be an optimal time to sell down the taxpayers stake in RBS, but by signalling his intention to do it now allows the chancellor some wriggle room to slow it down or speed it up as circumstances dictate," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
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