(MENAFN- AFP) European markets shot up on Wednesday as the ECB indicated it planned to carry through with its stimulus measures, while ignoring high-risk brinkmanship over a deal to prevent Greece from defaulting.
In afternoon trading London's benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 0.57 percent to 6,967.42 points.
The CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.68 percent to 5,038.32 points and Frankfurt the DAX 30 jumped 0.95 percent to 11,436.31.
The euro rose to $1.1225 from $1.1152 late on Tuesday.
After a regular policy meeting at which the European Central Bank held its key rates unchanged as expected, ECB president Mario Draghi signalled that the 60 billion euro per month stimulus programme would continue despite inflation picking up.
Asked whether the ECB was currently considering an "exit strategy" from its raft of unconventional policy measures, Draghi told a news conference: "No. The answer is no. We're really far from that."
The ECB launched its bond-buying stimulus programme in March to fight falling prices in the eurozone, and data showed that inflation picked up to 0.3 percent in May after having been negative or flat for several months.
"Mario Draghi put to bed the question that has arisen in the markets on whether the ECB could taper in response to the recent rise in inflation," said Senior Market Analyst Craig Erlam at currency trading company Oanda.
As Greece and its international creditors are hurtling towards the brink of a payment default that could trigger a chain of events leading to a messy euro exit, Draghi said the ECB "wants Greece to say in the euro, but it should be a strong agreement" that leads to "growth and social fairness".
Greece and its creditors were expected Wednesday to exchange their rival reform plans in a bid to reach a deal that would finally unlock 7.2 billion euros ($8.0 billion) in vitally needed bailout funds for Athens after a four-month stand-off.
However the EU has said it does not expect a final deal to emerge from talks Wednesday between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.
Greece faces a Friday deadline to repay more than 300 million euros to the IMF. Overall it needs to repay the global lender some 1.6 billion euros this month, funds it currently lacks.
Erlam at currency trading company Oanda said he fails "to see what can be achieved from (the meeting) if both sides don't come bearing concessions, and pretty significant ones from Greece's perspective."
Although the creditors have insisted their latest proposals are not an ultimatum, Erlam said that may be the only way for progress to be made, with a vote or referendum in Greece to free the government from their election promises.
"Unfortunately, this only seems likely once the country is backed into a corner, either when it is about to default on its debt or when the ECB" cuts off the support that has kept Greek banks afloat, Erlam said.
"This would be a drastic and undesirable scenario for all concerned."
Asian markets mostly fell Wednesday.
Tokyo slipped 0.34 percent, its second consecutive drop after the Nikkei on Monday recorded a 12th straight day of rises -- its longest rally since 1988 at the height of the country's stock market bubble.
Wall Street stocks opened little changed Wednesday following solid US trade and employment data and a pledge by the European Central Bank to maintain aggressive monetary stimulus.
Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had edged down 0.01 percent to 18,010.94 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 was essentially flat at 2,109.67, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.21 percent to 5,087.36.
US businesses added 201,000 jobs in May after an average 170,000 in each of the previous two months, according to payroll firm ADP.
Commerce Department data showed the trade deficit fell to $40.9 billion in April from the huge $50.6 billion in March as the distortions from the West Coast port slowdown began to ebb.
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