European stocks yield some earlier gains

EUROPEAN indices largely yielded earlier gains yesterday, having been initially buoyed as the Eurogroup met to discuss the long-running Greek debt crisis.

The euro also rose as German chancellor Angela Merkel said that the currency was “too weak”. She attributed the euro’s weakness to ECB monetary policy as she explained why Germany ran a trade surplus.

That helped the euro bounce by about half a cent from the day’s lows of around $1.1160.

“It did have an impact on the euro (but) one does have to bear in mind that she did state the obvious,” Credit Agricole strategist Manuel Oliveri said.

“The ECB’s monetary policy stance is targeting the eurozone as a whole, so it’s no surprise that Germany is in a better position as compared to other euro nations. From that point of view her comments should not ... have a sustainable currency impact” he said.

Earlier trade in Europe had seen the dollar recover from its worst week in more than a year against the basket of currencies used to measure its broader strength.

In Ireland, the Iseq Overall Index ended the session more or less unchanged, at 6,928.28.

Movers included Hibernia Reit, which advanced 2.5pc to €1.28. The property investment firm releases results today.

Hotel group Dalata was 1.4pc higher at €5.09, while biotechnology investment firm Malin jumped 6.5pc to €12.04. Bulmers maker C&C declined 2.6pc to €3.41 and insulation maker Kingspan was off 1.4pc at €30.82.

The UK’s FTSE-100 was 0.3pc higher as the weaker pound buoyed foreign-earning companies. Germany’s DAX was down 0.1pc. France’s CAC-40 was unchanged.