Europe close: Stocks rise after Greek debt talks, Eurozone CPI improvement

LONDON (ShareCast) - Stocks in the euro-area were in positive territory as Greece indicated concessions in bailout talks and data showed an improvement in Eurozone consumer prices. Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis signalled that his government could make concessions on key demands with creditors in summer after an initial deal to unlock bailout funds is reached.

His remarks came as the newly reshuffled negotiating team prepared to meet bailout inspectors in Brussels.

"After June, we are willing to look at many issues," Varoufakis told Sto Kokkino radio. He indicated that he'd willing to raise some sales tax rates, for instance.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said he expected a deal by the end of next week. Greece needs fresh aid before its deadline to repay the International Monetary Fund €750m on 12 May.

Eurozone CPI, unemployment The euro-area consumer price index (CPI (Other OTC: CPICQ - news) ) registered zero growth in April compared to a year ago, as expected by analysts, according to an initial estimate from Eurostat.

It marked an improvement from the previous month's 0.1% year-on-year decline, adding to the European Central Bank's (ECB) argument that its quantitative easing programme is helping to bring inflation back towards the target of just below 2%.

The unemployment rate remained at 11.3% in March, surprising analysts who had expected a fall to 11.2%.

Christian Schulz, analyst at Berenberg, said the CPI data was "not yet a sign of fading domestic disinflationary pressures, as the painfully slow decline in unemployment evidenced in today's unemployment data for March reminds us".

"Rather, an increase in volatile food price inflation from 0.6% to 0.9% year-on-year and the impact of the weaker euro on the prices of imported non-energy industrial goods (inflation up from 0.0% to 0.1%) has triggered the modest rebound," he said.

German unemployment fell 8,000 in April, less than the 15,000 drop predicted, while the jobless rate remained at 6.4%.

German retail sales rose 3.5% year-on-year in March, better than the 3.1% increase that was forecast.

Russia's central bank lowered its key policy rate by 150 basis points to 12.5% from 14%. Economists had been expecting a smaller reduction to 13%.

US jobs, personal spending The number of Americans who filed for unemployment benefits reached a 15-year low last week. According to the Labor Department, initial jobless claims between 19 April and 25 April fell to a seasonally adjusted 262,000 from a revised 296,000, exceeding Wall Street's expectations of a 287,000 reading.

Personal (LSE: PGH.L - news) spending in the US rose by a seasonally-adjusted 0.4% after a revised 0.2% increase in February, missing the consensus forecast of 0.5%.

The reports follow a worse-than-expected slowdown in first-quarter economic growth figures and the Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates low amid weak data.

RBS (LSE: RBS.L - news) declines Royal Bank of Scotland slumped after posting a larger quarterly loss than analysts' estimated, mainly due to restructuring costs.

Nokia Oyj edged lower after posting first-quarter profit at its networks unit that trailed projections.

STMicroelectronics NV (Xetra: SGMR.DE - news) dropped after giving guidance on revenue and profit margins that was less than analysts' estimates.

Vallourec SA (Xetra: VAC.DE - news) plunged after the producer of steel pipes for the oil and gas industry reported earnings that trailed forecasts.

Brent crude rose 0.63% to $66.26 per barrel at 17:03 London time, according to the ICE.