Stocks rise on Greek deal but euro dip shows investors wary

Reuters

Published Feb 23, 2015 08:50

Stocks rise on Greek deal but euro dip shows investors wary

By Nigel Stephenson

LONDON (Reuters) - Shares rose on Monday on relief that Greece had reached a deal to avert an immediate financial crisis, though the euro dipped against the dollar on caution over conditions attached to the agreement.

Yields on low-rated euro zone government bonds fell as the agreement, reached after Greece's leftist government made big concessions, eased "Grexit" concerns that the country would have to leave the euro zone.

Euro zone finance ministers agreed on Friday to extend debt-laden Greece's bailout deal for four months, provided it drew up a list of reforms by Monday.

The agreement keeps Greece in the euro zone, though it will live under the EU/IMF rescue plan its government had pledged to scrap.

European shares rose in early trade on Monday. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 (FTEU3) index rose 0.6 percent to its highest since December 2007.

Italian and Spanish stocks were among the biggest gainers (IBEX) (FTMIB), while Greek markets were closed for a holiday.

The Greek deal helped propel Wall Street higher, with the S&P 500 (SPX) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) closing at record highs on Friday.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index (N225) hit a 15-year high on Monday, though MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (MIAPJ0000PUS) was down 0.1 percent. Many countries in the region returned from Lunar New Year holidays.

Yields on bonds issued by other indebted euro zone governments fell. Italian 10-year yields were down 4.4 basis points at 1.53 percent and those on Spanish equivalents fell 4.2 bps to 1.46 percent.

"With the Grexit scenario off the table - at least over the next few months - systemic risk will be priced out further today and we expect more pronounced ...(peripheral yields falling) momentum to unfold," Commerzbank (XETRA:CBKG) analyst Alexander Aldinger said.

German 10-year Bunds , the euro zone benchmark, rose 2.1 bps to 0.39 percent as investors sold the highest-rated debt and sought higher returns in lower-rated paper.

The euro rose as high as $1.1430 on Friday in the immediate wake of the deal but was last down 0.2 percent at $1.1355.

"It is a four-month extension but Greece still has to receive approval from the Eurogroup and the troika at the end of April. It is a deal with many conditions attached, so it hasn't been all bids for the euro," said Shinichiro Kadota, chief Japan forex strategist at Barclays (LONDON:BARC) in Tokyo.

The euro could also take direction from German Ifo business climate data, due at 0900 GMT.

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The dollar was broadly stronger, rising 0.3 percent against a basket off currencies (DXY). The yen fell 0.2 percent to 119.21 to the dollar.

Oil prices initially rose on Monday on the Greece deal but later dipped on worries about oversupply in North America.

Brent futures LCOc1 were last down 0.6 percent at $59.85 a barrel.

Crude prices began tumbling in June 2014 as traders reacted to a growing glut, but prices have picked up since mid-January with Brent jumping almost $20 to $63 a barrel as traders closed long-standing short positions in reaction to a falling number of U.S. oil rigs.