European stocks buoyed on eve of Greece meeting

European equities rose Tuesday with Frankfurt and Paris solidly higher on hopes of a Greek breakthrough deal, but London showing a thin gain after being hit by falling commodity prices and weak data.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 index of leading shares rose 1.07 percent to 10,777.68 points and in Paris the CAC 40 climbed 1.15 percent compared with Monday's close to 4,704.45.
The Madrid stock market gained 1.78 percent and Milan won 2.07 percent in value.
"European stocks are predominantly on the front foot as investors warily await tomorrow's (Wednesday's) Eurogroup emergency meeting to discuss the stand-off with Greece’s new anti-austerity government," said analyst Atif Latif at Guardian Stockbrokers in London.
"Elsewhere, a fall in oil prices has dragged down the UK's oil and gas-heavy FTSE."
London's FTSE 100 index dipped 0.14 percent to 6,827.70 points, with shares also dented by official data showing that British industrial production fell by 0.2 percent in December from the month before.
In addition, the mining sector sank on the back of sliding metal prices, which were under pressure from weak Chinese inflation data.
The Greek stock exchange jumped 8.0 percent in afternoon trading after the new government revealed that it has a 10-point plan to convince sceptical creditors to ease the country's bailout obligations.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faced a confidence vote in parliament over his policy package, but while he was expected to breeze through his first domestic political test, time to woo those holding the purse strings was running out.
At talks kicking off with an emergency meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Wednesday, Greece will plead its case for stop-gap financing with a view to clinching a reform deal that will not exacerbate poverty, to run from September 1.
- Greece remains centre stage -
"Greece will remain centre stage throughout this week," said Rebecca O'Keeffe, head of investment at stockbroker Interactive Investor.
"Greece are relying on the rest of Europe folding, in what is increasingly becoming a game of high stakes poker. However, European politicians are currently calling their bluff.
"Without agreement, events could quickly come to a head if the ECB were to withdraw funding from Greek banks. This suggests further turmoil for both Greek and wider EU equity markets is likely."
The European Union sees little chance of any final pact to resolve the debt standoff with the new Greek government this week, a European Commission spokeswoman said.
But she also played down speculation of a possible Greek exit from the euro, a prospect that has spooked financial markets and governments around the world.
In foreign exchange deals on Tuesday, the European single currency declined to $1.1300 from $1.1325 late in New York on Monday.
Asian equities meanwhile slipped Tuesday on renewed fears Greece will default on its debt obligations, but Shanghai rallied on fresh easing hopes after Chinese data showed inflation at its lowest level in more than five years.
Shanghai advanced on hopes for more monetary easing after China's inflation rate tumbled to 0.8 percent in January, well down from 1.5 percent in December and the lowest since November 2009.
The figures, which come despite an interest rate cut in November, are the latest to highlight problems in the world's number two economy and raise the spectre of possible deflation.
US stocks Tuesday opened higher on hopes for a deal to avert a Greek default and on solid earnings from Coca-Cola and others.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.47 percent to 17,813.08 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.48 percent to 2,056.54, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.51 percent to 4,750.14.
Dow member Coca-Cola rose 3.5 percent as fourth-quarter earnings translated into 44 cents per share, two cents above analyst estimates.