Partner Article

Markets hesitant as Greek debt talks continue

There was little in the way of economic data to end the week, the most significant point of note was
that UK retail sales rose 0.6% in December from the previous month. This equated to sales being
2.6% higher than the same period of 2010 in figures that are likely to have been bolstered by heavy
discounting in the run up to this Christmas.

Markets were once again struggling to find direction and appeared to be in a largely “wait and see”
mode whilst discussions between Greece and its bondholders continued. Whilst there has been
growing expectation that a deal will be achieved, there were news releases late afternoon that
suggested a conference call on the Greek deal would now not be held this afternoon. The flip-
flopping of optimism to pessimism around the deal highlights not only its importance but also the
uncertainty around the event, a factor that has prevented many investors committing more money
whilst markets however around their multi-month highs.

FTSE 100 ended near the lows for the day, giving up 12.6 points (0.22%) to 5728.6, a 1.5% gain
for the week. Its European peers lost were lower by a similar amount in percentage terms today
although were several percent higher on a week that has seen improving sentiment towards
the Eurozone situation. Whilst the Euro has staged impressive gains against the dollar in recent
days, markets will eagerly await news from the meeting of Eurozone Finance Ministers that is
to commence on Monday, before which it is also hoped a deal will be struck on the Greek debt
situation.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Dance .