(MENAFN- AFP) European equity markets pulled back on Wednesday, with Athens stocks tumbling ahead of an emergency meeting of eurozone finance ministers where Greece will unveil controversial proposals to overhaul its bailout.
Greece's benchmark stocks index slumped 4 percent with investors fearful that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's hardline stance could set Greece on a path leading to its exit from the eurozone.
London's benchmark FTSE-100 index ended the day down 0.16 percent to 6,818.17 points, in Paris the CAC 40 dropped 0.35 percent to 4,679.38 points, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 index edged down 0.02 percent to 10,752.11 points.
Milan fell 0.77 percent and Madrid fell 1.3 percent.
The euro slipped to $1.1303 from $1.1315 late on Tuesday in New York.
"European stock markets stalled on Wednesday, drifting mostly lower ahead of the Eurogroup meeting in Brussels in which Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis will put his case for debt reform to other eurozone ministers," said analyst Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets UK.
Tsipras told parliament late Tuesday he would not bow to German demands that his leftist government complete a pending loan agreement with the EU and the IMF before rethinking the terms of the 240-billion-euro ($270-billion) bailout that Greece accepted during Europe's debt crisis.
Varoufakis was to present a 10-point plan aimed at securing stop-gap financing that would tide the country over while it negotiates new terms to be put in place from September 1.
In Athens, Tsipras announced plans to work with the OECD to draft a programme of reforms to boost growth in the debt-laden country.
The programme will be based "not on what was previously decided but on popular mandate", he told a news conference after meeting Angel Gurria, head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
- Sky falls -
On the corporate front, shares in Sky dropped 2.2 percent to 933 pence, making it the biggest loser on the FTSE, one day after the satellite pay-TV group was forced to spend massively to retain exclusive live coverage of Premier League football.
Sky and broadcasting rival BT won the UK television rights to show Premier League games for three seasons at a record cost of £5.1 billion ($7.8 billion, 6.9 billion euros).
The 70-percent price hike is the result of a ferocious bidding war between the pair. Sky will pay £4.2 billion for five of the seven packages and BT almost £1.0 billion for the remainder.
"BT has come out of the bidding in far greater shape than Sky as it has managed to maintain its share of coverage while avoiding the 70 percent increase in fees that Sky has had to fork out," said Alastair McCaig, market analyst at IG trading group.
Shares in BT gained 3.65 percent to 460 pence.
US shares were mostly down ahead of the Greece meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.20 to 17,832.86 points in midday trading.
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.96 percent to 2,067.63, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.36 percent to 4,791.63.
Asian equities mostly posted gains on Wednesday, still under the influence of hopes for a Greek deal that had helped push up European stocks on Tuesday.
Seoul rose 0.51 percent and Shanghai added 0.51 percent. Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta and Taipei all gained.
However, Sydney skidded 0.54 percent and Hong Kong closed 0.87 percent lower.
Tokyo was closed for a public holiday.<
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