|
 Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will meet the heads of the
European Commission, European Central Bank and International
Monetary Fund on Monday ahead of a summit of euro zone leaders later
in the day aimed at reaching a deal over debt talks.
The chief-of-staff to European Commission President Jean-Claude
Juncker called the latest proposals from Greece a "good basis for
progress", while EU Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said he
was "convinced" agreement will be reached.
Financial markets appeared willing to give the protagonists in the
saga the benefit of the doubt. German stocks jumped 2.5 percent and
the 10-year yield on Spanish and Italian bonds fell as much as 12
basis points.
"The most likely outcome, with a 75 percent probability, is a deal,"
Credit Suisse analysts said in a note on Monday.
"An unfortunate but predictable feature of European crisis
decision-making is that such deals are only ever made at the last
minute, 'at the edge of the abyss'," they said.
In early European trading Germany's DAX was up almost 3
percent at 11,360 points, France's CAC 40 up 2.5 percent at 4,945
points and Britain's FTSE 100 up 1.4 percent at 6,802 points.
Greek stocks opened 6.5 percent higher, with Greek banks soaring 15
percent.
The broader EuroFirst300 index of the leading 300 European shares
was up 2 percent at 1,560 points, with prices also boosted by merger
and acquisition activity.
In Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
rose 0.9 percent, its biggest rise in more than two months, while
Japan's Nikkei stock index added 1.3 percent.
Chinese mainland markets were closed on Monday for a holiday, after
posting their biggest weekly loss since 2008 last week.
U.S. stock futures pointed to a 0.8 percent rise at the open on Wall
Street.
SUNNY DAY?
In bond markets, Spanish and Italian 10-year yields were both down
around 10 basis points at 2.19 percent, the lowest in 10 days.
The flip side of investors' renewed appetite for risk was a fall in
safe-haven German bonds, which pushed the 10-year Bund yield up as
much as 10 basis points to a 10-day high of 84 basis points.
Many investors were still cautious about Prime Minister Tsipras'
proposals, however, because it was not immediately clear how far
they yielded to creditors' demands for additional spending cuts and
tax hikes, nor whether creditors can stomach the offer.
[to top of second column] |
Athens is running out of cash to repay a 1.6 billion euro IMF loan
due at the end of the month, unless it secures new financing from
international creditors.
Speculation is rife that, if no deal were reached on Monday, Greece
would need to impose capital controls on Tuesday to avert a banking
crisis as savers keep withdrawing funds from banks.
Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras met senior bankers on
Friday and told them to brace for a "difficult day" on Tuesday if no
deal is reached, two bankers at the meeting told Reuters.
"The market is preparing for a relief rally regardless of good or
bad news out of Greece," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya market analyst at
London Capital Group.
"Either way, the clouds of uncertainty should dissipate to provide
more visibility across the market. Whether a thundery or a sunny
day, investors need to know what to wear."
The euro rose as much as half of a percent earlier in the global
session to trade above $1.14, before easing back to flat on the day
at $1.1355. On Thursday last week, it hit a one-month high of
$1.1440.
The dollar was up 0.3 percent against the yen at 123.00 yen, but
little changed on a trade-weighted basis. The dollar index was last
trading at 94.1.
In commodities trading, copper futures rose about 0.3 percent to
$5,677 a tonne, moving away from last week's three-month low hit on
worries about demand in top metals consumer China and uncertainty in
the Greek debt talks.
Crude oil futures rose too. Brent crude was up 0.7 percent at $63.42
a barrel, while U.S. crude futures was up almost 1 percent at
$60.18.
(Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano and Lisa Twaronite in Tokyo,
and Lionel Laurent in London; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
