London--European stocks swung around Tuesday as Athens and its EU-IMF creditors remained locked in a stand-off over a deal to save Greece from a possible default, dealers said.
Markets also took a knock from news that investor sentiment has tumbled to a seven-year low in eurozone powerhouse Germany, weighed down by uncertainty over Greece and subdued global growth.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 initially fell by over 1 percent on news that Germany's investor confidence index, calculated by the ZEW economic institute, fell 10.4 points to 31.5 points in June -- its lowest level since November last year.
However by afternoon it had recovered ground, standing up 0.05 percent at 10,989.92 points.
The CAC 40 in Paris, which was down by over a point in midday trading, rebounded to a gain of 0.22 percent at 4,826.00 points.
London's FTSE 100 index shed 0.32 percent to 6,688.92 points.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said that "the uncertainty surrounding Greece acts as a major drag on sentiment", adding that "the ZEW economic sentiment figures... highlighted this."
In crisis-hit Greece, the ATHEX index fell 4.40 percent to 705.79 points, having slumped almost 5.0 percent on Monday in a global selloff after talks with creditors collapsed over the weekend.
"The Greek government continues to remain stubborn, despite calls by European officials for it to make further reforms before creditors release further bailout funds," said dealer Amir Khan at trading firm Currencies Direct.
"Greece has to pay 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) to the International Monetary Fund by 30 June, so without the bailout funds the risk of a default looms large. If Greece does default, it would have to leave the eurozone."
AFP
