No deal again for Greece, but options remain

European stock markets received a slight boost in afternoon trading on Thursday June 25th, when it appeared that European finance ministers unanimously agreed to push forward the proposal from Greece's creditors. However, after the meeting of European finance ministers concluded, there were some doubts over whether everyone was as unanimous as previously thought, which sent markets lower once more.

"The market is 100 per cent being driven by headlines on Greece," said DZ Bank strategist Felix Herrmann. "The latest move seem to be pointing towards a higher chance of an agreement towards the weekend. There's an urgent need for a deal as Greece is approaching a kind of hard deadline."

Germany's DAX looked likely to end the day just in the red, while the French CAC 40 was ending around 0.1 per cent lower. Meanwhile, the Euro Stoxx 50 index ranged around neutral.

After the Eurogroup meeting, Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis noted that while the Greek proposals were criticised, those from their European creditors also received some flak.

“Interestingly, several colleagues disagreed and criticised not only our text but also the text of the institutions," he said.

“We shall continue our deliberations, the institutions are going to look again at the two documents - our documents and their own, there will be discussions with the Greek government, and we’ll continue until we find a solution”

Greece and its European creditors continue to butt heads on several "red lines" that have been holding back negotiations for weeks. Pierre Moscovici, the EU commissioner, noted that they have yet failed to reach an agreement on the pension reforms and VAT rate changes that Greece should implement.

However, earlier in the day, comments from Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras indicated there was still time to reach a deal, especially as they still have a good basis for an agreement.

"European history is full of disagreements, negotiations, and then compromises," he said.

"So after the comprehensive Greek proposals, I am confident that we will reach a compromise that will help the eurozone and Greece to overcome the crisis."

With this optimistic mood in mind, the Greek PM pushed to continue the talks with eurozone leaders at a summit in the evening. It remains to be seen whether the flood of positivity over the Greek debt crisis from earlier in the week will follow through to a deal.

Austrian finance minister Hans Jörg Schelling stated that Greece’s final deadline to reach an agreement is Sunday June 28th, and Greece is due to repay the International Monetary Fund on June 30th. Time is ticking, but we may yet see an agreement forged in the final hours.