- Cyprus vote on depositor 'bail-in' to be delayed
- 'In-line' reading on German economic confidence
- Periphery debt yields still slightly higher
- Apparently successful Spanish bill auction

FTSE-100: 0.05%
Dax-30: -0.24%
Cac-40: -0.55%
FTSE Mibtel 30: -0.68%
Ibex 35: -0.88%
Stoxx 600: -0.04%

The main European equity benchmarks are still registering mixed readings, following an earlier start moderately lower, but have moved up a tad from their lows. That comes on the back of concerns regarding the situation in Cyprus and whether or not that sets a precedent for other countries, which could see financial stocks - in particular - come under pressure and weigh on Eurozone periphery debt markets.

For some the situation faced by European authorities is more nuanced. For these observers what must be avoided is a 'bail-in' of depositors with less than €100,000 in their accounts, the same level of guarantees as is offered in other nations.

Not coincidentally, that is precisely what the European Union is now asking of the Mediterranean nation.

Speaking of which, according to Cypriot broadcaster CYBC this evening´s parliamentary vote on whether to accept the European Union´s modified demands has been postponed until tomorrow.

Spain´s Treasury has this morning auctioned €4bn in 3 and 9 month bills, with mixed bid-to-cover ratios versus the last time around, although before the sale Unicredit was pointing out how the shortest part of the Spanish interest rate curve was relatively expensive now versus Italy.

Companies still in defensive mode

Leading car-marker Volkswagen now sees lower growth in Brazil this year, according to company executives cited by Reuters.

German steel maker Thyssen Krupp is preparing to carry out a capital increase, Handelsblatt reports.

From a sector stand-point the worst performance is now to be seen in the following sectors: Basic resources (-1.95%), Automobiles (-0.69%) and Banks (-0.66%).

'In-line' economic confidence in Germany

The German ZEW institute´s economic confidence index for the month of March has come in at 48.2 points, up by 16.7 points (Consensus: 47.5).

Other asset classes move lower

The euro/dollar is nudging higher by 0.02% to 1.2946.

Front month Brent crude future are now falling by 0.275 dollars to the 109.21 dollar mark on the ICE.

AB

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