Euro soars as ECB offers debt deal to Greece
The euro neared a two-month high amid speculation that Greek politicians were ready to yield to the demands of their troika paymasters, despite a chaotic run-up to the talks.
The single currency rose to $1.3255, six cents higher than its low in January, as Lucas Papademos, Greece's prime minister, finally convened a three-times delayed meeting of politicians tasked with approving austerity measures to secure its €130bn (£109bn) bail-out.
The Athens talks took a farcical turn as officials blamed "lost paperwork" for delaying the deal needed to save the country from bankruptcy.
There was a further postponement of several hours while the demands from the European Union (EU), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) troika had to be translated from English into Greek for the sake of George Karatzaferis, the leader of the Right-wing Laos party.
There was exasperation from other European countries, after Greece had already missed three self-imposed deadlines in as many days. Officials in Athens insisted the leaders would "rise to the challenge".
Stockmarkets were not convinced; in Germany the Dax closed down 0.11pc, France's CAC was off 0.02pc, and in London the FTSE 100 slid 0.27pc.
Mr Papademos was reportedly given on Tuesday a complex set of austerity and debt demands from the troika. Greece's three coalition leaders were given six hours to read through the 50-page document which included €3bn of spending cuts, pension reductions and 15,000 public sector job losses.
In a significant breakthrough, sources said the ECB, Greece's biggest creditor, was prepared to participate in the debt restructuring by agreeing to hand back to Athens the profits on the Greek bonds it owns in a complicated debt swap.
James Nixon, at Societe Generale, said: "Given that the IMF have been widely reported to suggest that Greece needs at least an additional €15bn, it is clear that some form of official sector involvement is expected to fill the gap."
Jean Claude Juncker, head of the Eurogroup, announced the 17 eurozone finance ministers will meet today to discuss the deal, should the Greek politicians approve it.
European leaders planned for the Eurogroup to pass the deal to the Greek parliament to vote on this weekend. Unless the deal is voted through by parliament Greece will not receive the international aid it requires to avoid defaulting on a €14.5bn bond on March 20.
Standard & Poor's (S&P) piled on the pressure by warning that Greece's debt is likely to be downgraded to "selective default" while negotiations drag on.
The rating agency added that even if private bondholders agreed to as much as a 70pc hit on their holdings, the move wouldn't be "particularly significant" and Athens might need more. Greece's talks with its private creditors have been sidelined by the budget negotiations.
Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, said that a Greek exit from the single currency would be less risky now than it would have been in 2010. But Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said: "I will have no part in forcing Greece out of the euro."
Separately, the French cabinet officially approved plans to introduce a Financial Transactions Tax, paving the way for a 0.1pc levy on buying shares in French companies worth more than €1bn.
There will also be a 0.01pc charge on credit default swaps.
The Bank of France forecast zero growth in the first quarter of 2012; and Spain's BBVA bank said the Spanish economy would shrink 0.2pc in the first quarter.