It is a crucial weekend for Greece and the markets, considering recent gains made across Europe in anticipation of a debt deal being made. If this is not the case, Monday could be ugly, since it seems doubtful that markets could open next week without a heavy sell-off if no deal has been agreed.
Greece’s international creditors have given Athens a weekend deadline to come to a debt deal or risk defaulting on a €1.6bn repayment due to the IMF on 30 June. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU and the IMF had done all they could to ensure a positive outcome to the negotiations ahead of Greece’s 30 June deadline to repay the IMF €1.6bn
UK stocks finished firmly lower on Friday as Greece entered crunch time in its debt negotiations with creditors, The FTSE 100 fell 54.12 points (-0.8%) to 6,753.70.
Despite the worries over Greece, the euro was stable against the dollar, with the greenback broadly flat against the pound and climbed 0.2% against the yen, while gold futures fell 0.17% to $1,169.80.
Asian stocks fell sharply, with China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropping 7.40% on concerns about overvaluation in the country’s stock market.
Oil prices slid, with West Texas Intermediate losing 1.32% to $58.92 a barrel, while Brent shed 0.97% to $62.59 a barrel.
The prospect of higher US interest rate continues to support the dollar, this in turn has pushed gold down $25 over the week.