By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks fell Monday, easing from
multiyear highs, with Greek shares in the deep red as European
officials continued to tackle issues surrounding the country's debt
crisis.
The Stoxx Europe 600 ended 0.3% lower at 393.19, with losses in
nearly all major sectors, including a more than 1% decline for the
telecom group .
Discussions about Greece's financial troubles took center-stage
in the markets as finance ministers in the eurozone, known as the
Eurogroup, gathered in Brussels to discuss Greece during its
regular monthly meeting.
Eurogroup's chairman, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, ahead of the meeting
said progress by Athens on reforms related to the four-month
extension Greece's bailout program has been slow, a sentiment
echoed by other European officials
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/eurogroup-urges-greece-to-speed-up-reform-talks-to-unlock-aid-2015-03-09).
The Eurogroup on Monday concluded that Greece, which faces a
cash crunch later this month, needs to speed up its work on
reforms.
Over the weekend, Greece Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told
an Italian newspaper that Greece may hold a referendum
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greece-hints-at-referendum-over-eu-rescue-demands-2015-03-08)
on whether to accept its creditors' financial-aid terms if the
government decides they are unacceptable.
The Stoxx 600 on Friday
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-extend-multiyear-highs-ahead-of-qe-launch-2015-03-06)
finished 0.1% higher, holding its best level since mid-2007, and
marked its fifth consecutive weekly advance ahead of Monday's start
of the European Central Bank's massive asset-purchase program.
Read: 7 things to know about the ECB's QE game plan
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/7-things-to-know-about-the-ecbs-qe-game-plan-2015-03-06).
The euro on Monday
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/euro-hovers-at-12-year-lows-as-greek-worries-heat-up-again-2015-03-09)
was trading at $1.0855 (EURUSD), up from around $1.0839 late
Friday.
"Judging by the performance of markets, the ECB's commitment to
buy euro-area assets in enormous quantities has obviously won out,
with the ongoing issues in Greece simply being seen as a nuisance
in the background," Dermot O'Leary, chief economist at Goodbody
Stockbrokers, wrote Monday.
Nevertheless, the "bottom line here is that the risk of an
accident in Greece remains a very real one," said O'Leary. "It is
clear that a third bailout will also have to be thrashed out over
the coming months."
Indexes: As ECB purchases kicked off, yields on Italian, Spanish
and Portuguese government debt fell to near-record lows
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-bond-yields-drop-as-ecb-launches-qe-2015-03-09)
on Monday. Yields and prices move in opposite direction.
Greece's Athex Composite fell 4.2% to 814.70. Greek banking
stocks were hit, with Piraeus Bank SA dropping 12%, Eurobank
Ergasias SA losing 11%, and National Bank of Greece SA down 6.3%.
The yield on 10-year Greek government bonds jumped 61 basis points
to 9.94%, according to electronic trading platform Tradeweb.
Germany's DAX 30 turned up 0.3% to 11,582.11. Earlier Monday,
German data showed the trade surplus in Europe's largest economy
narrowed slightly in January
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/german-trade-surplus-narrows-slightly-in-january-2015-03-09-54854423)
in adjusted terms, as exports fell and imports slipped.
France's CAC 40 fell 0.6% to 4,937.20, and the U.K's FTSE 100
fell 0.5% (http://www.marketwatch.com/storyno-meta-for-guid) to
6,876.47.
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