Europe: Stocks slump on Greece fears

[LONDON] European stock markets slid at the start of trading on Tuesday, mirroring sentiment across Asia and on Wall Street over fears about Greece's eurozone future.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index shed 0.90 per cent to 6,966.50 points in initial deals.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 slumped 1.19 per cent to 11,534.81 points, and the CAC 40 in Paris lost 1.07 per cent to 4,973.92 compared with Monday's close.

"European equities are trading sharply lower this morning extending yesterday's losses after Greece's increasingly dire financial situation is once again taking centre stage," said Markus Huber, senior analyst at brokers Peregrine & Black.

Greece narrowly averted a default Tuesday that could have seen it crashing out of the euro, but warned it faced another cash crunch in two weeks without a bailout deal with its EU-IMF financiers.

Athens's new radical left government managed to scrape enough cash together Monday to place the order for the repayment of 750 million euros (US$840 million) in loans from the International Monetary Fund,, the finance ministry said, pledging to honour both its international and domestic debt obligations.

Greece won some support in the latest round of debt talks as it battles to keep itself solvent, but eurozone finance ministers have demanded more key reforms before they agree to release the final 7.2-billion-euro tranche of its EU-IMF bailout.

"While the Greeks may have stumped up some cash to appease their creditors in the short term, unless they can get through the current impasse and reach agreement on austerity measures, markets will remain jittery," said Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at stockbroker Interactive Investor.

AFP