(MENAFN- AFP) Europe's main stock markets slid on Wednesday as investors reacted to mixed corporate news and awaited the next moves concerning Greece.
London's FTSE 100 index fell 0.53 percent to stand at 7,025.43 points in afternoon trading and in Paris the CAC 40 slipped 0.11 percent to 5,186.72.
Meanwhile Frankfurt's DAX 30 shed 021. percent to 11,914.87 points, despite the German government raising its 2015 growth forecast to 1.8 percent.
The euro slid to $1.0713 compared with $1.0735 late in New York on Tuesday.
"Focus will heavily be on choppy markets over the coming week with more earnings results... and a showdown in Riga on Friday with finance ministers hoping to stop playing chess and to try and conclude a deal with Greece that will help keep them in the single currency before they completely run out of money," said London Capital Group dealer Derek Baker.
Shares in Britain's biggest retailer Tesco slumped 3.9 percent to 225.55 pence after the supermarket group announced it had plunged into a record loss last year as it took a huge writedown on the value of its property.
Tesco, which was hit by a major crisis last October after accounting errors that overstated profits, reported a loss after tax of £5.74 billion ($8.58 billion, 8.0 billion euros) in the 12 months to the end of February.
"The extent of the impairments are eye-watering," said Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.
"In addition, the outlook for the business remains unclear as management seek to spin several plates at once, with focus on such matters as the general restructuring, cost savings and an effort to regain some competitive composure."
Rolls-Royce shares were meanwhile showing a gain of 3.3 percent to 1,040 pence after the British maker of aircraft engines unveiled a new chief executive days after announcing a record deal.
John Rishton will retire from the top post on July 2 to be replaced by Warren East, a non-executive director at the company and former chief executive of British semiconductor manufacturer ARM Holdings.
Rolls last week said it had won a contract from Dubai's Emirates Airline worth a record $9.2-billion to supply and maintain Trent 900 engines for 50 Airbus A380 superjumbos.
- Eyes on Riga -
Markets were looking ahead to the end of the week when eurozone finance ministers are due to meet in Latvia's capital Riga.
Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem offered a glimmer of hope on the negotiations with Athens on Tuesday, saying some progress had been made, with the EU pressing Athens to detail a programme of acceptable reforms by Friday.
With Greek government coffers rapidly emptying, analysts warn Athens may have only weeks left before defaulting and possibly exiting the euro unless it reaches a deal with the EU and IMF to unlock 7.2 billion euros in remaining bailout loans.
But Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis downplayed the chances of a breakthrough in Riga, though he expressed confidence in eventually reaching a deal.
"This Eurogroup is informal and will last around two or two-and-a-half hours, and no Eurogroup decides on something so important in such a short meeting," he told Greek media late on Tuesday.
However he said he hopes the meeting "will be an important step in advancing the negotiations," and that "very soon we'll be able to talk about reforms that will be the backbone of a new growth programme."
In Asia, Japanese shares ended above 20,000 Wednesday for the first time in 15 years as the country recorded its first trade surplus for almost three years.
Tokyo's Nikkei jumped 1.13 percent to finish at 20,133.90 points, with analysts saying the monthly trade surplus was a good sign for corporate earnings.
Meanwhile Shanghai climbed 2.44 percent, and Hong Kong rose 0.30 percent.
But Seoul ended marginally lower while Sydney shed 0.36 percent.
Wall Street stocks opened higher Wednesday on a flood of mixed earnings reports, some of which bested expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.17 percent to 17,980.72 points in the first five minutes of trading.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.16 percent to 2,100.65, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.21 percent to 5,024.67.
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