French Market Advances Despite Greece Worries

(RTTNews) - The French market rose on Tuesday, even as concerns about Greece remained with the country expected to make a 300 million euros payment to the International Monetary Fund next week.

Sentiment in the region was also impacted by political uncertainty in Spain, where Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's Popular Party suffered its worst result in 20 years in a municipal election, as the voters punished his government for four years of austerity and a raft of corruption scandals before a general election due in November.

On a day of very little economic news, the quarterly Distributive Trades Survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed British retailers posted strong growth in sales this month and their outlook for sales and orders improved at an even stronger pace in the year to June.

A balance of 51 percent said sales increased in May, up from the prior month's balance of 12 percent and expectations of 40 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks was losing 0.43 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, was falling 0.29 percent.

The CAC 40 index gained 0.40 percent.

Telecom firm Orange gained 1.5 percent and media giant Vivendi was adding 2 percent.

Meanwhile, Societe Generale declined 2.3 percent. Peer BNP Paribas was modestly lower, while Credit Agricole managed to trade in positive territory.

Tire maker Michelin and utility EDF dropped 1.9 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

Other markets in the region were mostly lower.

The Asian stocks reversed early losses to end mostly higher as Chinese shares continued to rally and a rebound in iron ore prices lifted resource stocks.

In the U.S., futures point to a cautious open on Wall Street, following a public holiday on Monday.

Crude for July delivery fell $0.43 to $59.29 per barrel, while June gold dropped $9.8 to $1194.2 a troy ounce.