European stocks higher awaiting Greece meetings

Europe's main stock markets climbed on Friday with all eyes on Greece heading into more key meetings on its bailout to break the deadlock between Athens and its EU-IMF creditors.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 0.46 percent to stand at 6,738.60 points in London midday deals.

In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 won 0.73 percent to 11,181.00 points and the CAC 40 in Paris jumped in value by 1.09 percent to 4,855.70 compared with Thursday's close.

"As we head into what could be a very interesting weekend for Greece, investors appear surprisingly calm," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda trading group.

"Of course, there have been significant declines in European indices over the last few weeks as negotiations have gone from bad to worse so much of this has already been priced in."

In foreign exchange, the euro slid to $1.1319 from $1.1371 late on Thursday in New York.

"The relatively weaker euro is boosting the appeal of European exporters, and is thus another reason why the (stock) markets have bounced back," said Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at trading group Forex.com.

Greece on Friday insisted a last-ditch deal on its debt was possible and dismissed "terror scenarios" of a default that is looking increasingly likely, as emergency European meetings continue in a bid to break the deadlock.

"Those who invest in crisis and terror scenarios will be proven wrong," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's office said, amid reports that Greeks banks are struggling to cope with a rush of deposit withdrawals, fuelled by the ill-tempered talks with Greece's EU-IMF creditors.

Investors brushed off increasing worries about Greece's future in the eurozone after talks between the bloc's Eurogroup of finance ministers fell apart Thursday.

The meeting in Luxembourg aimed at breaking the five-month-old standoff was the latest failure to reach a compromise and leaves Athens with less than two weeks to unlock billions of euros in bailout funds to service its debts.

Athens' main stock market was down 0.46 percent to 680.31 points in Friday trading.

With Greece unwilling to agree to some austerity terms and creditors also not backing down, the country could end up defaulting, which could then lead to it leaving the eurozone.

"Greece remains a near term concern, but some of the bad news has now been priced in," said Razaqzada.

Asian stock markets meanwhile mostly rose Friday, following a record lead from Wall Street.

New York's three main indices rallied on Thursday, with analysts attributing the gains mostly to the pledge this week from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen that the US central bank will only gradually raise interest rates.

The comments eased worries about a sharp rise in borrowing rates in the world's top economy and key driver of global growth.