LONDON—European stocks were largely flat Wednesday and the euro slipped, as confusion mounted as to whether Greece will receive its next tranche of aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
London's FTSE 100 was recently down 0.1% at 5984.47, Frankfurt's DAX was flat at 7294.70 and Paris's CAC-40 was also flat at 4006.07.
Stocks started the new month on a tepid note following reports in the German press that the IMF won't pay its share of the June tranche of aid to Greece, though it will be participating in a new €60 billion to €70 billion ($100.74 billion) aid package.
Although both stocks and the euro recovered a touch, commentators were still wary. "We suspect the worst of the crisis is over, but it is hard to see a very rapid rally in the euro from here while the discussion continues in public," said Lloyds Banking Group economist Adrian Schmidt.
Meanwhile, there was still some trepidation with regards to U.S. economic data. Weakness in U.S. consumer confidence figures on Tuesday certainly knocked confidence, Mr Schmidt said.
"U.S. data continues to come out on the weak side of expectations, but it is hard to know to what extent the data has been affected by supply chain issues related to the Japanese earthquake."
Euro-zone purchasing managers' index manufacturing data for May was a little below flash forecasts, weighing on the euro versus the dollar, though having little impact on the main European bourses.
In European corporate news, Axa shares were up 3.0% at €15.24, after the company detailed its five-year strategic-plan targets and the sale of its Canadian non-life and life business to Intact for a €1.9 billion cash. Axa was the biggest gainer on the Euro Stoxx 50 blue-chip index.
Nokia Corp. fell 2.4% to €4.64, following a number of price target cuts and an equity rating downgrade. On Tuesday it warned of lower than expected sales and margins in its key devices and services unit in the second quarter.
Earlier in Asia, share markets ended mixed and the Shanghai market was weighed down by data showing that domestic manufacturing activity slowed in May.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average increased 0.3%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed flat, South Korea's Kospi Composite slipped 0.1% and China's Shanghai Composite Index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended flat.
While Wall Street's rise on Tuesday encouraged some buying interest, a recent string of weak U.S. data and soft Chinese manufacturing activity tempered gains across Asian markets.
China's official PMI fell to 52.0 in May from 52.9 in April, marking its second consecutive month of decline. Meanwhile, the HSBC China PMI for May fell to a 10-month low of 51.6 from 51.8 in April, indicating a cooling in demand in the world's second largest economy.
On Tuesday, U.S. stocks closed higher, as investors cheered a new bailout plan for Greece in spite of continuing weakness in the U.S. economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.0% to 12,569.79 while the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 1.1% to 1345.20.
In foreign exchange markets, the dollar remained under pressure after another dose of soft economic data, while the euro fell, then recovered on confusion regarding the next tranche of aid for Greece.
The euro was recently at $1.4424 from $1.4392 late Tuesday in New York, and at ¥117.36, from ¥117.31. The dollar was at ¥81.38, compared with ¥81.53.
The price of spot gold was at $1,531.70 a troy ounce, off $2.65 from its New York settlement on Tuesday. July Nymex crude-oil futures were up 35 cents at $103.05 a barrel.
There is a heavy economic schedule Wednesday. Euro-zone PMI manufacturing for May is due at 4:00 a.m. ET. The U.K. PMI manufacturing data are due at 4:30 a.m. ET. U.S. ADP employment will be released at 8:15 a.m. ET and will be closely watched ahead of Friday's nonfarm payrolls data.
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