European Markets Finished Mostly Higher, Greece In Focus

(RTTNews) - The majority of the European markets ended Thursday's session with modest gains. Concerns over the situation in Greece and continued weakness in oil prices weighed on investor sentiment. European leaders have yet to unlock the last tranche of EUR 240 billion bailout aid to Greece. Greece has to pay EUR 300 million to International Monetary Fund and redeem EUR 1.6 billion in treasury bills by Friday.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is due to hold talks with EU leaders at a European Union summit in Brussels starting today. Tsipras is seeking a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, French President Francois Hollande and European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker to discuss a political solution to the crisis.

The Federal Reserve concluded its monetary policy meeting yesterday afternoon and its statement was interpreted as dovish, even though the central bank removed its pledge to remain "patient" regarding normalizing monetary policy.

In her subsequent press conference, Fed Chair Janet Yellen noted that removing the word patient from the statement doesn't mean the central bank is going to be impatient.

Traders also seemed to focus on the fact that the Fed lowered its outlook for interest rates at the end of this year. The median projection for the mid-point of the fed funds target range at the end of 2015 is now 0.625 percent, down from the 1.125 percent projection made in December.

The European Central Bank announced on Thursday that Eurozone banks took up EUR 97.8 billion in its third offering of longer term loans.

Details of the latest Targeted Longer Term Refinancing Operation, or TLTRO, posted the ECB website showed that 143 financial institutions borrowed the longer-term loans. Economists were looking for a take up of nearly EUR 50 billion.

The Swiss National Bank kept its monetary policy unchanged and projected a deep negative inflation this year. The central bank also downgraded its growth forecast as the discontinuation of currency ceiling and the subsequent strength of the franc weighed on activity.

The SNB maintained the target range for the three-month libor between -1.25 percent and -0.25 percent. The interest rate on sight deposits with the SNB remained at -0.75 percent and the exemption thresholds remained unchanged, the bank said in a statement.

The inflation forecast for 2015 was downgraded to -1.1 percent from -0.1 percent. Inflation will reach its low point to -1.2 percent in the third quarter, the bank estimated.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks increased by 0.14 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 0.53 percent. The DAX of Germany dropped by 0.20 percent, but the CAC 40 of France rose by 0.07 percent. The FTSE of the U.K. gained 0.25 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 0.78 percent.

In Frankfurt, Siemens sank by 4.18 percent, on reports that its CEO stated that the company's second quarter profit will be weaker than expected.

HeidelbergCement rose by 0.96 percent. The company announced a higher dividend, and said it sees strong growth in fiscal 2015 results and sales volumes.

Fraport, which reported increased full-year profit, advanced by 1.02 percent.

Lanxess reported profit for 2014, amid lower impairment charges, but sales fell from last year. The stock dipped by 0.08 percent.

In Paris, Valeo was the top performer of the session, with a gain of 2.80 percent.

Societe Generale climbed by 1.33 percent and BNP Paribas added 1.36 percent. Credit Agricole also finished higher by 1.13 percent.

In London, Next Plc. dropped by 4 percent. The retailer warned that it remains very cautious in its sales budgets for the new year although the consumer economy looks benign.

Mining stocks climbed as gold prices rebounded. Fresnillo increased by 5.43 percent and Randgold Resources added 3.23 percent. Antofagasta rose by 1.98 percent and Glencore gained 1.58 percent.

Eurozone labor costs growth slowed for the second consecutive quarter in the three months to December 2014, figures from Eurostat revealed Thursday. The nominal hourly labor costs grew a working-day adjusted 1.1 percent year-on-year following 1.4 percent gain in the third quarter. In the three months to June, labor costs had risen 1.5 percent.

U.K. gross mortgage lending declined in February as housing activity remains weak, the Council of Mortgage Lenders reported Thursday. Gross mortgage lending reached GBP 13.4 billion in February, down by around 9 percent from both January and from last year.

Switzerland's growth projections were lowered on Thursday as the removal of the currency ceiling and the subsequent appreciation of the Swiss franc worsened the outlook for the economy.

According to Spring forecast published by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs or SECO, the economy will grow 0.9 percent in 2015 compared to 2.1 percent expansion estimated in December. The outlook for 2016 was lowered to 1.8 percent from 2.4 percent.

Switzerland's foreign trade surplus decreased in February, as exports fell and imports rose, figures from the Swiss Federal Customs Administration showed Thursday. The trade surplus shrank to CHF 2.47 billion in February from CHF 3.41 billion in the previous month. In December, the surplus totaled CHF 1.51 billion.

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits saw a slight increase in the week ended March 14th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

The report said initial jobless claims inched up to 291,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 290,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 293,000 from the 289,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region has increased at a modest pace in the month of March, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on Thursday, although the index of regional manufacturing activity unexpectedly showed a slight decrease.

The Philly Fed said its diffusion index of current activity edged down to 5.0 in March from 5.2 in February. While a positive reading indicates continued growth in manufacturing activity, economists had expected the index to climb to 7.0.

Continuing to point to short-term growth, the Conference Board released a report on Thursday showing another modest increase by its index of leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of February. The Conference Board said its leading economic index edged up by 0.2 percent in February, matching the increase seen in January. The modest increase by the index also came in line with economist estimates.