European (SXXP) stocks fell, heading for their first weekly decline since the beginning of June, before meetings between German, French and Greek leaders to discuss Greece’s second bailout program. Asian stocks fell, while U.S. index futures were little changed.
A gauge of mining companies led losses, with Rio Tinto Group slumping 3.2 percent and BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) sliding 2.1 percent. NKT Holding (NKT) A/S slumped 9.2 percent after the maker of cables and industrial vacuum cleaners reported second-quarter sales that missed estimates. Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) rallied 2.7 percent.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.2 percent to 267.14 at 9:13 a.m. European stocks are heading toward a 2.1 percent drop this week, which would break 11 weeks of gains. The equity benchmark has still rallied 14 percent from this year’s low on June 4. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) slid 1.3 percent, while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures lost 0.1 percent.
“The focus clearly turns to the meeting between Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande and Antonis Samaras, where it seems the French and German leaders will try and coordinate a response and encourage the Greek to pursue pre-agreed targets,” Chris Weston, an institutional trader at IG Markets in Melbourne, wrote in a note to clients.
The Stoxx 600 declined yesterday as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble damped optimism that Greece will get more time to cut its debt and as bond yields climbed in Spain.
Merkel said she and Hollande will coordinate on their approach to Greece to keep pressure on the country at the heart of Europe’s debt crisis to overhaul its economy.
Speaking to reporters in Berlin before hosting a working dinner with the French president, she said they will discuss “how to receive our colleague,” Samaras, who visits the German capital today and Paris tomorrow.
“It’s important to me that we all stand by our obligations and wait for the troika report and see what the result is,” Merkel said in a prepared statement late yesterday, referring to a report due next month on Greece’s progress in meeting its bailout terms. “We, and I, will encourage Greece to pursue the path of reform that demands a lot from the people.”
Germany should stick to its strict position with Greece because delaying measures won’t help anyone, Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager said in an interview with the Financial Times Deutschland. He said that it was becoming increasingly difficult to explain the aid to a domestic audience, according to the newspaper.
Bloomberg
