LONDON: Europe's main stock markets fell on Friday, the day after the International Monetary Fund pulled its team out of Greece's bailout reform talks saying they were far off reaching a deal.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies shed 0.67 percent to 6,800.81 points in afternoon deals.
In Paris the CAC 40 sank 2.05 percent to 4,869.68 points, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 index lost 1.38 percent to 11,176.72 points compared with Thursday's closing level.
Athens' main index plunged 4.99 percent to 782.05 points. giving up most of its optimistic eight percent surge the day before.
"European equities are trading moderately lower... after yesterday's rally had come to an abrupt halt on the back of reports that the IMF has halted negotiations with Greece due to a lack of progress," said analyst Markus Huber at brokerage Peregrine & Black.
"However the fallout ... has been limited by the release of solid US economic data pointing towards a strong rebound in economic growth."
In foreign exchange activity, the euro slipped to $1.1226 from $1.1260 late on Thursday in New York.
- 'Responsibility lies with Greece' -
Greece must reach a compromise with its creditors -- the IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank -- before the end of the month to unlock much-needed cash to service its debts. Failure to do so will lead it to default and possibly exit the eurozone.
"Crunch time is near and the IMF's departure sent a strong message that the responsibility lies with Greece to make the concessions needed to settle a deal," said Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist for Capital Economics.
"That message has been further underlined by statements from eurozone officials to the effect that Greece should "take it or leave it" and by press reports suggesting that Germany is making preparations for a Greek default or euro exit," he added..
A poll released Friday showed a majority of Germans (51 percent) no longer support Greece staying in the eurozone, a near 20-point jump from a poll at the start of the year.
- 'Unimaginable' without IMF -
The IMF on Thursday withdrew from eleventh-hour talks in Brussels, saying an agreement remained far-off after a five-month stalemate with Greece's anti-austerity government, which faces being unable to pay huge debts at the end of the month.
However, Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem insisted on Friday that a bailout deal for cash-strapped Greece without the IMF's involvement would be "unimaginable".
Without the IMF, a deal is "unimaginable because it needs to have proper content and if it has proper content, the IMF will also participate," Dijsselbloem told journalists in The Hague.
US stocks opened lower Friday on renewed worries over a potential Greek debt default.
Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.33 percent tot 17,980.09 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.35 percent to 2,101.45 points, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.34 percent at 5,065.34.
Hong Kong rose 1.39 percent, Shanghai added 0.87 percent and Tokyo climbed 0.12 percent in value.
Comments
Comments are closed.