World stocks drift as Greek bailout clears eurozone hurdle

LONDON - Global stock markets have started the week on a fairly flat note as the Chinese currency steadies and the Greek bailout cleared another big hurdle.

KEEPING SCORE: In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.3 percent at 6,529 while Germany's DAX fell 0.3 percent to 10,948. The CAC-40 in France bucked the trend, trading 0.1 percent higher. Wall Street was headed for a subdued open, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures down 0.2 percent.

GREEK CRISIS: Greece cleared a big hurdle late Friday when eurozone finance ministers the country's 86 billion-euro ($93 billion) bailout program. A few parliaments have to approve the deal before Greece can get its hands on the 26 billion euros ($29 billion) tranche of money that will allow it to make a big repayment due to the European Central Bank on Thursday. While the bailout appears to be going smoothly, the Greek government is facing some difficulty after many of its lawmakers failed to back the bailout in a parliamentary vote. That's raised the prospect of a confidence vote in the government and early elections as soon as next month.

ANALYST TAKE: "Given the market-moving power of Greece in the first half of 2015, investors clearly aren't as fussed about the issue as they once were, with fears over China's next move outweighing the positive progress found on the continent," said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.

YUAN STEADIES: Chinese authorities raised by a smidgen the daily level for the country's currency, which is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent against the dollar each day in the spot markets. yesterday's rate fix further calmed Asian markets after Beijing last week devalued the yuan, which resulted in the currency weakening as much as 3 percent.

JAPAN ECONOMY: The Nikkei was lifted after government data showed Asia's second-biggest economy contracted 1.6 percent in the April-June quarter on bad weather and slowing China demand, raising hopes of fresh stimulus. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has championed a huge monetary easing program aimed at kick-starting economic growth, but analysts say the poor results so far suggest that the central bank may pump in even more money in the months to come, a move that would also support the stock market.

BLAST FALLOUT: Shares of Tianjin Port Development Holdings tumbled 13 percent as worries deepened over last week's huge explosions at the busy Chinese port city. The blasts, which originated at a warehouse storing more hazardous material than permitted, left at least 114 people dead and 70 missing.

ASIA'S DAY: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.5 percent to close at 20,620.26, while South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.8 percent to 1,968.52. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.7 percent to 23,814.65 and the Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China added 0.7 percent to 3,993.67. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2 percent to 5,367.70.

ENERGY: US crude oil fell 76 cents to $41.74 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many US refineries, fell 18 cents to $49.01 in London.

CURRENCIES: The euro was flat at $1.1117 while the dollar was steady at 124.36 yen.