European stocks are seen opening largely unchanged on Monday, as a weekend summit of the G8 leading industrialized nations failed to announce necessary steps to lift the encircling gloom over Greece's debt woes. However, the euro is currently edging higher against the dollar and the yen after G8 leaders said they support Greece remaining in the Eurozone.
Commodities such as crude and copper are gaining ground, while Asian stocks are trading mixed ahead of a gathering of German and French leaders in Berlin later today, where European leaders will seek ways to tame the region's debt crisis.
Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao vowed proactive policies to prevent a rapid economic slowdown, spurring speculation the government is open for further monetary and fiscal easing measures to sustain its economy growth as the global economy falters.
Closer home, house prices in the U.K. remained unchanged in May as the expiration of stamp duty exemption for first time home buyers and the eurozone crisis damped demand, a survey by Rightmove revealed. Separately, a survey by Markit Economics showed that household finances in the U.K. deteriorated at the fastest pace in four months in May.
In corporate news, Spanish oil giant Repsol announced that it has canceled its contract to supply liquid natural gas to Argentina following disputes over the nationalization of the Spanish firm's stakes in energy company YPF by the Argentine government.
U.K. lender HSBC Holdings Plc said it has completed the sale of its 195 retail branches, primarily in Upstate New York, to First Niagara Bank, N.A. for around $0.9 billion.
S.A.G. Solarstrom AG said it has temporarily brought to a close the program for repurchasing its own shares at the end of trading on May 18.
Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA published the offer document for the voluntary public takeover offer to Rhoen-Klinikum AG shareholders through its subsidiary FPS Beteiligungs AG.
GSW Immobilien AG reported that its first-quarter 2012 consolidated net income plunged to 8.7 million euros from 33.2 million euros in the previous year.
European shares weakened on Friday, as miners lost ground on concerns over Chinese growth and banks ended mixed following Moody's announcement of a severe downgrade of 16 Spanish banks.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks eased 0.1 percent and the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, shed 0.9 percent, while around Europe, France's CAC 40, the German DAX, the SMI of Switzerland and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell between 0.1 percent and 1.4 percent.
On Wall Street, stocks drifted lower on Friday, as a lack of major catalysts, Facebook's disappointing debut and lingering concerns about the outlook for the eurozone prompted investors to pare their investments going into the weekend. The Dow shed 0.6 percent, the tech-Nasdaq fell 1.2 percent and the S&P 500 slid 0.7 percent.
by RTT Staff Writer
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