LONDON (ShareCast) - -Greece says deal done
-ECB leaves rates on hold
-Eurozone finance ministers meet in Brussels

FTSE-100: +0.34%
Dax-30: +0.52%
Cac-40: +0.41%
Euro Stoxx 50: +0.43%
Ibex 35: +0.6%

Most European stock markets rose through Thursday as Greek politicians claimed they had agreed to yet more spending cuts.

The details of the agreement are unclear although there are reports they include a 20% reduction in the national minimum wage, the redundancies of 15,000 government workers and cuts to pension entitlements.

The Greeks have certainly cut it very fine, with finance ministers gathering in Brussels this evening to hear from the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund on the burning question: have the Greeks done enough to warrant a further £130bn in bailout money.

The debt stricken country faces debt repayments of €14bn on March 20. If it doesn’t get the rescue money before then it will go bust.

In other news the European Central Bank left interest rates at 1% as predicted by most economists.

The Bank of England, meanwhile, announced it would pump a further £50bn of liquidity into the UK’s financial system through the process known as quantitative easing.

In the US, new jobless clams unexpectedly fell by 15,000 last week to hit 358,000.

EQUITIES

Some very welcome news for Daimler, the German company behind Mercedes Benz, as it saw profits jump 39% rise in the fourth quarter.

The Belgian finance giant, KBC, rose 8% after announcing it would be paying more money back to the Belgian government which began bailing it out back in 2008.

The French gas and electricity supplier GDF Suez fell 4.81% after revealing a 13 drop in profits for 2011 on the back of mild weather.

The strongest sector on the Stoxx Europe 600 was automobiles and parts (+2.93%). The weakest sector by the close was utilities (-1.43%).

OTHER MARKETS

Brent Crude futures contracts gained 1.05% by 5:08pm in London

At 6:21pm in Frankfurt one euro was worth 1.3295 dollars, a rise of 0.26% on the overnight fix.

BS

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