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Greek debt deal sends world shares higher

Last Updated 27 November 2012, 17:26 IST

European shares climbed to near a three-week high and safe haven German bonds fell on Tuesday, after global lenders agreed to reduce Greek debt and release loans to keep the economy afloat.

After 12 hours of talks, they decided steps to cut Greek debt to 124 per cent of gross domestic product by 2020, and promised further measures to lower it below 110 per cent in 2022.

Following months of jockeying, the deal was broadly expected by markets and clears the way for Greece's euro zone neighbours and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to disburse almost 35 billion euros of aid next month.

European shares on the FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.5 per cent following the deal, with London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX between 0.4 and 0.6 per cent higher.

The MSCI index of global stocks was up 0.2 per cent and US futures prices pointed to a higher open on Wall Street when trading resumes.

“After three meetings this months and a total of more than 24 hours of discussing and negotiating, the euro zone countries have put their money where their mouth is,” said ING economist Carsten Brzeski.

“The political will to reward the Greek austerity and reform measures has already been there for a while. Now, this political will has finally been supplemented by financial support.”

"While the EU/IMF agreement on Greece is EUR-supportive, it was widely expected and hence the market reaction is likely to remain muted. We maintain our buy on dips strategy," Morgan Stanley's FX strategy team said.

Commodities up

The Greek deal also helped commodity markets with copper rising to a near one month high of $7,791.50 a tonne and oil inching up 11 cents to $111.05 a barrel.

After an initial post-deal jump, gold steadied back at around $1,750 an ounce.
On the euro zone bond market, safe haven German government bonds fell, with benchmark Bunds down over 40 ticks at 142 compared with 142.43 at Monday's settlement. “Bunds are falling simply because the market is relieved we have a deal now and the tail risk of a Greek accident has been taken out,”said Michael Leister, a senior rate strategist at Commerzbank.

With doubts about Greece being able to hit its growth and debt cutting targets, few analysts expect the latest agreement to be the final chapter in the euro zone's three-year crisis. “(The Greek deal) is not the green light for a sustained rally for risk assets across the board. As we've seen before, once the market starts scrutinising some of the details some doubts may well arise,” added Commerzbank's Leister.

In Asian trading, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.6 per cent to a near three-week high, led by a 1 per cent advance in Korean shares and a 0.7 per cent rise in Australian shares.

The Sensex ended up 1.7 per cent. Shanghai shares bucked the trend to fall 1 per cent to their lowest since 2009, dragged by weakness in growth-sensitive companies.

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(Published 27 November 2012, 17:26 IST)

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