London - Europe's main stock markets were largely steady at the open
on Thursday after talks between Greece and its European creditors on
restructuring the country's bailout broke up without agreement.
Greece
is set to feature heavily at Thursday's European Union summit in
Brussels, along with discussions over the Ukraine crisis.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index edged up 0.06% to 6 822.27 points and Frankfurt's DAX 30 dipped 0.05% to 10 752.11.
The CAC 40 index in Paris slipped 0.20% to open at 4 670.08 points compared with Wednesday's close.
The euro meanwhile rose slightly on Thursday to $1.134 from $1.1319 late in New York on Wed Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the Eurogroup of eurozone ministers, said six hours of talks produced no deal on an extension of Athens' EU-IMF rescue programme worth €240bn.
Greece's bailout is due to expire at the end of February and failure to agree an extension would see the country default on its giant debts, almost inevitably meaning that it would crash out of the eurozone.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras led the hard-left Syriza party to victory in elections last month vowing to bring an end to austerity measures imposed under the bailout.
Elsewhere Thursday, the International Monetary Fund and conflict-torn Ukraine reached a preliminary deal on a new financial rescue plan worth $17.5bn dollars, said the organisation's chief Christine Lagarde.
In London, the Bank of England will publish its latest economic forecasts as Britain risks falling into a period of deflation, or falling prices, that poses a threat to its recovery before and after the country's general election in May.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index edged up 0.06% to 6 822.27 points and Frankfurt's DAX 30 dipped 0.05% to 10 752.11.
The CAC 40 index in Paris slipped 0.20% to open at 4 670.08 points compared with Wednesday's close.
The euro meanwhile rose slightly on Thursday to $1.134 from $1.1319 late in New York on Wed Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the Eurogroup of eurozone ministers, said six hours of talks produced no deal on an extension of Athens' EU-IMF rescue programme worth €240bn.
Greece's bailout is due to expire at the end of February and failure to agree an extension would see the country default on its giant debts, almost inevitably meaning that it would crash out of the eurozone.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras led the hard-left Syriza party to victory in elections last month vowing to bring an end to austerity measures imposed under the bailout.
Elsewhere Thursday, the International Monetary Fund and conflict-torn Ukraine reached a preliminary deal on a new financial rescue plan worth $17.5bn dollars, said the organisation's chief Christine Lagarde.
In London, the Bank of England will publish its latest economic forecasts as Britain risks falling into a period of deflation, or falling prices, that poses a threat to its recovery before and after the country's general election in May.
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