European equities fell sharply on Monday
after talks between Greece and its creditors
collapsed at the weekend, raising the
prospect that Greece could default on its
debt obligations.
The pan-European
FTSEurofirst 300 slipped more than 1.5
percent during afternoon trade, with German
stocks tumbling around 1.9 percent, as
peripheral bond yields spiked.
Greek banks, peripheral
bonds sell off
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FTSE |
FTSE 100 Index |
6730.09 |
|
-54.83 |
-0.81% |
388372832 |
DAX |
DAX Index |
11035.57 |
|
-160.92 |
-1.44% |
58162127 |
CAC 40 |
CAC 40 Index |
4836.05 |
|
-65.14 |
-1.33% |
82943655 |
IBEX 35 |
IBEX 35 Idx |
10870.10 |
|
-160.40 |
-1.45% |
157524479 |
Talks between Greece and its creditors
over the weekend yet again failed to resolve
the impasse over reforms, with European
officials blaming Athens for failing to
offer concessions in return for a final
tranche of desperately-needed financial aid.
Greek banks faced severe selling on
Monday as investors digested the news, with
Pireaus Bank tumbling as much 12 percent
in afternoon trade, while
Alpha Bank and
Eurobank Ergasias both traded down
around 9 percent and 6.8 percent
respectively. Italian and Spanish banking
stocks also fell sharply.
Bond yields in Greece and peripheral
Europe also spiked.
Greek 10-year yields hit 12.2 percent,
after closing at 11.8 percent on Friday.
Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis,
ruled out a "Grexit" -- Greece leaving the
euro zone -- in an interview with a German
newspaper Bild published Monday,
but said that Germany needed to play a
bigger part in talks. The only way Greece
would be able to repay its debts is if there
is a restructuring, he wrote, and a deal
could be possible if German Chancellor
Angela Merkel took part in the talks,
Reuters reported.
Read MoreGreece
on 'brink of disaster' as talks fail again
U.S. stocks were trading about 1 percent
lower on Monday, following a decline in
European equities on the collapse of weekend
talks between Greece and its creditors.
In other Europe news, the U.S. plans to
store heavy military equipment in the
Baltics and Eastern European nations to
reassure allies made uneasy by Russian
intervention in Ukraine, and to deter
further aggression, Reuters reported Sunday,
citing an unnamed senior U.S. official.
Russia's central bank cut its key interest
rate once again on Monday, in a further
bid to stimulate economic growth in the
country. It slashed interest rates by 100
basis points to 11.5 percent, in line with
analyst expectations, in the fourth
consecutive month of cuts.
In other individual stocks news, budget
U.K. airline
easyJet fell around 2.5 percent to the
bottom of benchmarks, before paring losses
to 1.9 percent lower, after RBC analysts cut
its rating to underperform from outperform.
The move weighed on European rivals
Air-France KLM and
Lufthansa, which both slipped down
around 3.4 and 2.6 percent down
respectively.
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