Talks between Greece and IMF stall

European stocks pared gains late in the session following reports that bailout talks between Greece and its creditors have come to a stop amid a failure to make any progress.

The International Monetary Fund has reportedly said that there are major difference between the IMF and Greece in most key areas.

It said there has been no progress in narrowing those difference and technical discussions on a bailout have stopped.

The IMF reportedly said that the ball is now very much in Greece’s court, with talks still deadlocked over pensions, taxes and financing.

The biggest sticking point seems to be over the former of those three issues. IMF spokesman Gerry Rice highlighted how pensions and [government] wages account for 80% of total primary spending.

The negotiating team dispatched by the Washington-based lender to Brussels has reportedly been pulled.

Nevertheless, Rice stressed the IMF is still very much at the negotiating table. Indeed, the organisation is willing to be flexible as regards the fiscal targets set for Athens, "the whole thing has to add up" including in terms of the amount of financing made available and the degree of debt relief offered.

Stocks across the Eurozone cut their gains abruptly after the news hit the wires.

As of 15:53 the Dax-30 was trading up by 0.59% to 11,335.15 after having hit an intra-day high of 11,452.94, while the Cac-40 was up by another 0.84% to 4,976.12 after touching an intra-day high of 5,022.10.

Euro/dollar was down 0.76% to 1.1235.