European Markets Climbed On Optimism For Greek Deal

(RTTNews) - The majority of the European markets ended Friday's session in the green. The gains were fueled by investor optimism for a last minute deal on Greece. After yesterday's meeting of Eurozone finance ministers failed to yield an agreement, an emergency meeting has been scheduled for Monday.

Eurozone finance ministers are set to hold an extra meeting on Monday, June 22, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem announced Friday. The meeting, which will be held in Brussels, is seen crucial and could be the deciding one for Greece's future with euro.

"We sent a strong signal to the Greek authorities that it's really up to them to submit new, additional proposals in the coming days to fully engage with the institutions," Dijsselbloem stated.

In some relief for Greece, the European Central Bank Governing Council on Friday raised the emergency liquidity assistance, or ELA, for Greek banks by EUR 3.3 billion, the CNBC reported citing a source, slightly less than what the Bank of Greece had reportedly sought. The bank had held an emergency conference call to review the funding assistance to Greek banks which are facing accelerated withdrawals.

The ECB also warned that Greek banks may not open on Monday, Reuters news agency reported, citing officials who took part in the Eurogroup meeting on Thursday. Deposit flight may force Greece to impose capital controls, becoming only the second country after the neighboring Cyprus to use the measure in the euro area.

The French economy is set to grow 1.2 percent on average in 2015 as a whole and 1.6 percent at the end of this year, the statistical office Insee said in a report. The Bank of France also projected 1.2 percent growth for 2015. Gross domestic product is forecast to rise 0.3 percent each in the second and third quarters and then 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks increased by 0.19 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 0.30 percent.

The DAX of Germany dropped by 0.54 percent, but the CAC 40 of France rose by 0.25 percent. The FTSE of the U.K. gained 0.04 percent, but the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 0.15 percent.

In Frankfurt, Thyssenkrupp increased by 2.29 percent and Continental added 1.16 percent.

Deutsche Bank fell by 1.67 percent, but Commerzbank gained 1.04 percent.

In Paris, Valeo rose by 4.17 percent, after it bought a 10.5 percent stake in LED-maker Aledia. Renault added 1.64 percent and Peugeot gained 3.33 percent.

BNP Paribas finished higher by 1.00 percent. Credit Agricole rose by 0.84 percent and Societe Generale added 0.83 percent.

In London, Colt Group surged by 19.97 percent. The company received an offer from Fidelity. The offer values the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Colt at 1.72 billion pounds.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals climbed by 2.74 percent, after Citigroup upgraded its rating on the stock to "Buy" from "Neutral."

Ashtead Group increased by 1.82 percent, after Exane BNP Paribas upgraded it to "Outperform" from "Neutral."

Barclays advanced by 1.61 percent and HSBC gained 0.54 percent. Lloyds Banking Group climbed by 0.43 percent and Royal Bank of Scotland added 0.66 percent.

The euro area current account surplus increased in April largely reflecting an improvement in goods trade, the European Central Bank said Friday. The current account surplus rose to a seasonally adjusted EUR 22.3 billion from EUR 18 billion a month ago.

Germany's producer prices declined more than expected in May, data released by Destatis revealed Friday. Producer prices declined 1.3 percent in May from last year, but slower than the 1.5 percent drop seen in April and 1.7 percent fall in March.

U.K. public sector borrowing declined in May from the last year, the Office for National Statistics reported Friday. Public sector net borrowing excluding interventions was GBP 10.1 billion or 0.5 percent of GDP in May. This was a decrease of GBP 2.2 billion from May 2014. It was expected to drop to GBP 10.3 billion.

Sentiment among U.K. households concerning house prices increased for the twenty-seventh consecutive month in June, improving to an eight-month high, as households expects that any uncertainty caused by the general election has passed, a survey from Knight Frank and Markit Economics showed Friday.

The house price sentiment index, or HPSI, rose to 59.5 in June from 58.0 in the previous month. This marked the twenty-seventh successive month that the index remained above 50, a level separating rise and decline in prices.