Investing.com - European stocks were little changed in choppy trade on Friday, although investors remained cautious ahead of Sunday's Greece rerendum on whether the country's should accept its creditors' bailout conditions.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 eased up 0.04%, France’s CAC 40 edged 0.04% higher, while Germany’s DAX 30 inched up 0.03%.
Hopes for a last minute deal between Greece and the euro zone were quashed on Wednesday after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras urged voters to reject the terms of an international bailout deal.
Greek voters are due to decide on Sunday whether to accept terms proposed by the institutions overseeing the country’s now-expired bailout, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission, or reject them.
Tsipras has said a vote against the proposals would give him a stronger mandate to agree a third bailout Greece’s creditors. However, European leaders have said the referendum is ultimately a vote on whether to remain in the euro zone.
Greece became the first developed country to default on the IMF after its second bailout program expired late Tuesday.
Financial stocks were broadly lower, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PARIS:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PARIS:SOGN) fell 0.09% and 0.22%, while Germany's Deutsche Bank (XETRA:DBKGn) declined 0.43%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy's Unicredit (MILAN:CRDI) slid 0.41%, while Spanish banks Banco Santander (MADRID:SAN) and BBVA (MADRID:BBVA) eased 0.02% and 0.23% respectively.
On the upside, K+S AG surged 3.18% after Canadian fertilizer producer Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. said it can address the German company’s concerns about its takeover proposal.
In London, FTSE 100 dipped 0.06%, weighed by losses in the financial sector.
Shares in HSBC Holdings (LONDON:HSBA) and Lloyds Banking (LONDON:LLOY) fell 0.19% and 0.28% respectively, while Barclays (LONDON:BARC) lost 0.59% and the Royal Bank of Scotland (LONDON:RBS) tumbled 1.28%.
Mining stocks were also on the downside, as Glencore Xstrata (LONDON:GLEN) and Fresnillo (LONDON:FRES) both dropped 0.58%, while Rio Tinto (LONDON:RIO) declined 0.74% and Bhp Billiton (LONDON:BLT) lost 1.02%.
Meanwhile, oil and gas major BP (LONDON:BP) saw its shares rally 1.27% after the group agreed to pay $18.7 billion to settle all federal and state claims arising from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, including the biggest pollution penalty in U.S. history.
In the U.S., equity markets were to remain closed for a national holiday.