ROME: European stocks were little changed before a meeting between Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and his euro-area counterparts in Brussels.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.1 percent to 372.75 at 8:57 a.m. in London. Stocks climbed Tuesday amid investor optimism that Greece can reach an agreement on new bailout terms with its euro-region creditors.
“At the moment, it’s still about the Greek story,” said Benno Galliker, a trader at Luzerner Kantonalbank AG in Lucerne, Switzerland. “There will likely be some compromise but investors are waiting until there’s a solution. There are still risks out there for equity investors, but they should be buying on the dips.”
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble late Tuesday damped hopes of a compromise at the emergency meeting today, saying there are no plans to discuss a new agreement. Still, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said there is “no way back” for his government, and he wants a new accord that won’t subject his people to more pain.
Greece is trying to drum up support for a 10 billion-euro ($11.3 billion) bridge plan to stave off a funding crunch and buy time to win an easing in austerity terms from creditors. Any deal would require a softening of Germany’s stance.
Among stocks moving on corporate news today, Norsk Hydro ASA jumped 3.6 percent after Europe’s third-biggest producer of aluminum posted a narrower net loss and higher-than-estimated revenue for the fourth quarter.
ING Groep NV rose 2.1 percent. The Dutch financial-services company plans to pay a dividend for the first time in almost seven years after repaying a state bailout, even as profit from its banking activities fell in the fourth quarter.
