European shares edged lower at the open on Thursday, giving back some of the late gains made the previous day as optimism about a possible deal between Greece and its creditors faded.

Wednesday's rally had been fuelled by reports of a staff-level agreement between Greece and its creditors but German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble later said there was not much progress in the talks.

"The Greeks say we're making good progress and then you have some of the finance ministers saying 'no'," Mike Reuter, a trader at Tradition, said.

"There are so many problems still and some people think there won't be a solution this week, so, given that volumes are terrible, there is a chance again today and tomorrow that we'll see a bit of weakness in the market."

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of European shares was down 0.3 per cent at 1,617.55 points at 0734 GMT after a 1.3 per cent rise the previous day.

Greece's Athex General Composite index was down 0.4 per cent.

G7 meet

Investors were monitoring any update coming from a meeting of G7 ministers and central bank heads in Germany, where the Greek situation will be discussed on the sidelines.

Tech shares outperformed, boosted by speculation about more mergers and acquisitions among chip-makers after Reuters reported Avago Technologies is close to an agreement to buy Broadcom Corp.

European chip-makers I nfineon and STM were up 3.9 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively.

Europe's biggest home improvement retailer, Kingfisher , also bucked the trend, adding 3 per cent after posting a rise in first quarter retail profit, helped by a strong performance at Screwfix which lifted sales at its British arm.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW