(MENAFN- FxPro) European stocks were sharply lower on Tuesday, as concerns over Greece's future in the euro zone weighed heavily even after Athens repaid a loan installment to the International Monetary Fund.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 lost 1.29%, France's CAC 40 retreated 1.14%, while Germany's DAX 30 plummeted 1.32%.
Greece repaid a ‚¬770 million loan installment to the IMF early Tuesday, easing concerns that it was on the verge of default.
Athens is scrambling to reach an agreement with its international creditors on a package of economic reforms in order to access fresh bailout funds and avert a liquidity crunch.
Euro group finance ministers held talks with Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis in Brussels on Monday but no substantial progress was made.
Greece's government has indicated that it is still hopeful that progress will be made but euro zone officials have indicated that too many issues still remain unresolved.
Financial stocks were broadly lower, as French lenders Societe Generale (PARIS:SOGN) and BNP Paribas (PARIS:BNPP) declined 0.97% and 1.20%, while Germany's Commerzbank (XETRA:CBKG) and Deutsche Bank (XETRA:DBKGn) fell 0.20% and 0.78%.
Among peripheral lenders however, Italy's Unicredit (MILAN:CRDI) and Intesa Sanpaolo (MILAN:ISP) dropped 0.42% and 0.47% respectively, while Spanish banks BBVA (MADRID:BBVA) and Banco Santander (MADRID:SAN) lost 1.01% and 1.18% respectively.
Elsewhere, Carlsberg (COP:CARLa) saw shares plunge 4.63% after the brewer reported first-quarter profit that exceeded analysts' estimates, thanks to rising sales in western Europe and Asia.
On the upside, Thyssenkrupp (XETRA:TKAG) surged 3.39% after the German steelmaker raised its full-year profit forecast.
In London, FTSE 100 tumbled 1.17%, weighed by easyJet Plc (LONDON:EZJ), whose shares dove 7.50% after the airliner said that flight cancellations in April stemming from French strikes would hurt pretax profit by about £25 million.
Financial stocks were also on the downside, as Lloys Banking slipped 0.27% and the Royal Bank of Scotland (LONDON:RBS) lost 1.07%, while Barclays (LONDON:BARC) and HSBC Holdings (LONDON:HSBA) both plummeted 1.38%.
Meanwhile, mining stocks were mixed. Shares in Rio Tinto (LONDON:RIO) slid 0.53% and Glencore Xstrata (LONDON:GLEN) dropped 0.75%, while rivals Bhp Billiton (LONDON:BLT) and Randgold Resources (LONDON:RRS) rose 0.27% and 0.45% respectively.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a lower open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.28% fall, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.24% loss, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.34% decline.
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