European stocks rise

London
European equity markets rose on Wednesday before a G7 finance meeting that will focus on Greece’s debt drama.
In mid-afternoon deals, London’s benchmark Financial Times Stock Exchang (FTSE) 100 index of top companies rose 0.62 percent to 6,992.26 points, as investors also tracked the state opening of parliament and the legislative programme for Prime Minister David Cameron’s newly-elected British government.
In Paris, the CAC 40 index added 0.70 percent to 5,119.25 points and Frankfurt’s DAX 30 won 0.06 percent to 11,631.79 compared with Tuesday’s closing level.
The European single currency lost early gains to slide to a new one-month low of $1.0819, compared to $1.0879 late in New York on Tuesday.
The FTSE 100 was trading higher as the G7 meeting was underway, said analyst David Madden at trading firm IG.