ROME: European stocks fell Friday after Greece and its international creditors appeared to make little progress toward reaching a debt agreement in the latest round of crisis talks.
In early trade, and having ended the previous two sessions lower, the Stoxx Europe 600 declined another 0.5%. Germany’s DAX lost 0.4% and France’s CAC-40 0.6%.
Greece’s main stock exchange slipped 1.5% taking its losses in June to more than 6.5%.
Late on Thursday, European finance chiefs put off talks to seal a Greek bailout deal until the weekend after ending another meeting without agreement, leaving only days to keep Athens from defaulting on a loan payment.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said another round of negotiations among the eurozone’s finance chiefs on Saturday should have a “decisive significance.”
She said the currency union’s leaders wouldn’t get involved in the details of the talks, which have dragged on for five months.
