The European markets are in negative territory in afternoon trading Wednesday, ahead of a crucial meeting between Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker.
Samaras is expected to seek at the meeting a two-year extension for the country's fiscal adjustment program. He will also visit French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel later this week.
Meanwhile, Samaras told German daily Bild that Greece needs more time to implement the reforms and spending cuts requisitioned by the country's international creditors.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is falling 0.84 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is losing 0.78 percent.
The German DAX is falling 0.92 percent and the French CAC 40 is losing 0.79 percent. The UK's FTSE 100 is declining 1.12 percent and Switzerland's SMI is losing 0.43 percent.
In Frankfurt, Infineon Technologies and Fresenius Medical Care are declining 1.8 percent each.
Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen are moderately lower.
Commerzbank is losing 0.4 percent while Deutsche Bank is gaining 1.4 percent.
Commerzbank cut GFK to "Hold" from "Buy." The stock is advancing modestly.
In Paris, Schneider Electric is falling 2.1 percent and Cap Gemini is losing 2 percent.
Societe Generale and Credit Agricole are losing modestly while BNP Paribas is up marginally.
Renault is gaining 0.2 percent while Peugeot is notably lower.
UBS cut European food producers to "Underweight." Danone is losing fractionally.
Miners are notably lower in London. BHP Billiton is losing 1.7 percent after the mining giant said annual profit was hit by weakness in commodity prices and cost pressure.
Anglo American is declining 2.5 percent. JP Morgan cut the stock to "Underweight," while raising Antofagasta to "Overweight." Antofagasta shares are losing 1.7 percent.
Kingfisher is declining 3.6 percent. Deutsche Bank cut its rating on the stock.
GlaxoSmithKline is losing 1.2 percent. The stock was cut to "Underweight" at JPMorgan.
Lloyds Banking is gaining 1.2 percent, while other lenders are in negative territory.
Heineken is falling 2.7 percent in Amsterdam after posting a modest growth in first-half profit. The company increased its expectation for input costs.
Across Asia/Pacific, markets ended mostly lower, after Japan posted a wider-than-expected trade deficit for July. Australia's All Ordinaries slid 0.2 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.50 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng retreated 1.1 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 0.3 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, stocks turned lower over the course of the trading day after failing to sustain an early upward move. The Dow fell 0.5 percent, the Nasdaq slipped 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 dropped 0.4 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for October delivery is losing $0.15 to $96.69 per barrel and December gold is adding $0.7 to $1643.6 a troy ounce.
by RTT Staff Writer
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