ANKARA
European stocks have gone broadly higher and the euro has moved up against the U.S. dollar after news emerged of progress in the Greek bailout talks.
Markets reacted to a positive statement from a German government spokesman after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met in Brussels Wednesday.
Shares on the U.K.'s benchmark FTSE 100 improved 76 points or 1.1 percent, while the German Dax and French CAC indexes gained 2.4 percent and 1.75 percent, respectively.
The euro moved to about 1.13 against the dollar early Thursday, up from around 1.08 in the previous week.
“There is agreement that the talks between the Greek government and the institutions [the EU, European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund] should continue with greater intensity,” Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement late Wednesday.
Tsipras, as he left the meeting, told reporters: "Europe's leaders understand the need for an agreement to be reached shortly".
Greece must make about $2 billion in payments to the IMF by the end of June. Greek officials have said that the country is close to running out of money to run its banks and public services.
The main sticking points in the current negotiations between Greece and its creditors are: the amount of primary budget surplus the country must maintain, the level of value-added tax imposed on goods and services, and pension reform.
The discussion on Wednesday may have seen progress on the first of these issues, according to a report in the Swiss newspaper Die Neue Zurcher Zeitung.
The creditors are insisting on budget surpluses of 1 percent, 2 percent, 3 percent and 3.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product for the years 2015 to 2018 respectively, according to the report.
Tsipras is reported to have accepted this creditor demand, which was made as a “final offer”, according to the report.
Talks will continue between Tsipras and Merkel during the week, although no timetable has been made public.
