Stocks fall on Greece concern

European stocks fell for a fifth day after euro area finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund failed to agree on how Greece will repay its debt.

US index futures and Asian shares also dropped.

EON slumped 9.8 per cent after Germany's biggest utility lowered its earnings forecast for 2013.

Vodafone slid 3.5 per cent after the world's second-largest mobile-phone company took a #5.9 billion-pound (€7.5 billion) writedown for its operations in Spain and Italy.

Pirelli and C declined 3.5 per cent after the tiremaker cut its 2012 revenue target and raised its debt forecast.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.5 per cent to 268.12 at 8.41am in London, its longest losing streak since May.

The equity benchmark has retreated 2.4 per cent since President Barack Obama won re-election as concern grew that impending US tax increases and spending cuts, known as the fiscal cliff, will harm the world's biggest economy.

"The existential threat to the euro Bzone persists in the short term and is a reason to be cautious," said Abi Oladimeji, head of investment strategy at Thomas Miller Investment in London, who advised reducing holdings in equities.

"Both the euro-zone crisis and the fiscal cliff are downside risks to the financial and economic outlook," he said.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the euro region, slipped 0.8 per cent to 2,454.16 today.

Standard and Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in December slid 0.7 per cent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.6 per cent.

Euro-area finance ministers gave Greece an extra two years to cut its budget deficit to 2 per cent of gross domestic product, pledging to plug the resulting financing gap to prevent the country from leaving the single currency.

Finance ministers put off until November 20 a decision on how to cover additional Greek needs of as much as €32.6 billion and left unclear whether the International Monetary Fund will continue to contribute.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde disagreed with a decision by the representatives of the 17-nation currency zone to postpone the goal of getting Greece's debt down to 120 per cent of GDP by two years, until 2022.

Bloomberg