Shares slip on Greek bailout saga

Uncertainty over the plight of Greece continues to give markets direction on Friday and nudged a global share index off a five-month high, while dragging European shares lower also. Yesterday’s news that Germany refused to accept a Greek bailout extension weighed heavily on sentiment and investors await the next round of talks to see if any resolution is forthcoming.

The downbeat sentiment ignored some robust European data that highlighted private sector growth in France and Germany improved in the first quarter of 2015 and saw equities in Europe slip into the negative.

Germany’s DAX fell around 0.3 per cent by midday, the CAC 40 edged around 0.2 per cent lower and the Euro Stoxx 50 declined a little over 0.2 per cent.

In the afternoon on Friday, European officials will meet once again in an attempt to hammer out a proposal that will be accepted by both sides. However, the morning saw a lot of political posturing that downplayed the chance that an agreement is coming today and instead suggested the chance that extra emergency meetings may be necessary.

The existing bailout deal expires at the end of the month and failure to finalise a deal could see Greece run out of money. Today’s meeting is scheduled to start in Brussels at 14:00 GMT and will be watched avidly by market movers.

Elsewhere, January’s public sector finances figures from the UK recorded its highest surplus in seven years and was almost double that of last year’s. While January is traditionally a month that shows a surplus, it is still good news for the government and means the UK will meet its borrowing target for this fiscal year.

"In a week of economic milestones, today we learn that January saw the largest monthly surplus in the public finances since the crisis, putting us on track to meet our borrowing forecasts and halve the deficit as a share of GDP this year," said George Osborne, chancellor of the exchequer in the UK.