European Shares Slightly Higher in Early European Trading

By Josie Cox 

        European shares inched higher Wednesday, a day after eurozone leaders gave Greece a Sunday deadline to come up with new economic measures to avoid tumbling out of the currency union.
        The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.1% in early trade, having fallen 1.6% in the previous session.
        The index has endured a turbulent few weeks, largely buffeted by headlines on Greece. It is up 9% so far this year but down 3% over the past month.
        Germany's DAX rose 0.2% on Tuesday and France's CAC-40 added 0.4%. In Southern Europe, Italy's FTSE MIB was up 0.5% and Spain's IBEX was up 0.4%.
        After Tuesday's emergency summit of eurozone leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that it was up to Greece to act.
        She said European Central Bank President Mario Draghi made clear to leaders at the summit that Sunday would be "the right moment to take decisions" for Greece to avoid a meltdown of its banking system.
        Without some new cash, Greece won't be able to make a EUR3.5 billion ($3.8 billion) bond payment to the ECB on July 20, leading to the country's second default in less than a month.
        Greek banks will stay closed for another day Wednesday, as will the Athens bourse.
        The euro edged higher against the dollar to trade at $1.102.
        The bloc's currency fell to a five-week low against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday after Greek finance chief Euclid Tsakalotos only read out proposals the government already presented last week during a meeting of finance ministers. Investors had been expecting a new proposal.
        In debt markets Wednesday, the yield on the 10-year German government bond was broadly steady at 0.63%. The yield on 10-year Italian debt was broadly unchanged at 2.25% in early trade. The yield on Spanish 10-year benchmark bonds was at 2.24%, marginally lower on the day. Yields fall as bond prices rise.
        Barclays shares rose 2.7% in early trade after the British bank announced that Chief Executive Antony Jenkins would leave.
        The bank said Chairman John McFarlane would act as executive chairman until it found a replacement for Mr. Jenkins.
        In commodity markets, Brent crude was 1.2% lower at $56.19 per barrel. Gold fell 0.5% to $1,147.40 per troy ounce.
        Write to Josie Cox at josie.cox@wsj.com
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        July 08, 2015 03:43 ET (07:43 GMT)

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