PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The French market was in negative territory on Tuesday, as Greece inches towards its debt-repayment deadline of June 5. It is unclear whether the debt-laden country will take the emergency option of 'bundling' repayments till the end of the month.
In discussions held among German Chancellor Angela Merkel, IMF chief Christine Lagarde, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, French President Francois Hollande and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Greece's international creditor institutions agreed to have a deal with the troubled nation in the coming days.
However, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras blamed the creditor institutions for the lack of progress in reaching a reform deal, calling the demands 'absurd'.
Eurozone consumer prices increased for the first time in six months in May, flash data from Eurostat showed. The harmonized index of consumer prices rose 0.3 percent year-on-year in May after staying flat in April. This was the first annual rise since last November and faster than the expected 0.2 percent increase.
German unemployment declined less than expected in May, the Federal Labor Agency reportedly said. The number of people out of work declined by seasonally adjusted 6,000, while it was forecast to fall by 10,000. The jobless rate came in at a record low 6.4 percent, the same rate as seen in April.
British construction expansion quickened more-than-expected in May, underpinned by a post-election bounce in new orders, survey figures from Markit Economics showed. The Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers' Index, rose to 55.9 in May from 54.2 in the previous month. Economists had expected the index to rise to 55.0.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks was declining 0.89 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, was retreating 1.09 percent.
The CAC 40 index fell 0.3 percent in afternoon trading, erasing some of the losses made earlier in the session.
Drinks maker Pernod-Ricard, which held its Capital Markets Day, declined close to 4 percent.
Publicis Groupe fell 2.2 percent, while Schneider Electric was losing 1.8 percent.
Bucking the trend, LVMH climbed around 3 percent on a positive broker recommendation.
Other markets in the region were mostly lower.
The Asian stocks fell broadly as upbeat data on U.S. manufacturing activity and construction spending reignited rate hike worries ahead of the release of U.S. non-farm payroll data on Friday.
In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the Dow and the S&P 500 edged up about 0.2 percent each, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.3 percent.
Crude for July delivery added $0.72 to $60.92 per barrel, while August gold dropped $1.8 to $1186.9 a troy ounce.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX