Europe stocks extend gain as Greece prepared to accept proposals
European stocks extended gains after Greece said it was prepared to accept creditors’ bailout proposals with some changes.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 1.9 percent to 388.46 at 10:30 a.m. in London. Shares slid on Tuesday as Greece prepared to miss a $1.7-billion payment to the International Monetary Fund, after last-ditch overtures to creditors were rebuffed. Investors now await the result of a July 5 referendum on the terms of any bailout.
“People may be a bit more comfortable with the Greek situation,” said Otto Waser, chief investment officer at R&A Research & Asset Management AG in Zurich. “The markets have gone down in the last days only on uncertainty. The exit is improbable, there is no way to expel them and Greeks don’t want that.”
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has offered to accept proposals from the nation’s creditors to end a standoff over its bailout program, subject to certain conditions.
The proposal was contained in a letter from Tsipras dated June 30 to his creditors and obtained by Bloomberg. [Bloomberg]
