London - Stocks continued their relentless march higher on Wednesday as investors shrugged off the protracted uncertainty surrounding Greece's debt negotiations with its creditors, pinning their hopes that a deal will be reached by the end of the week.
The Greek government said it would request a loan extension from its creditors on Wednesday, expected to be for up to six months with conditions yet to be negotiated, and the European Central Bank (ECB) will announce it won't cut off emergency funding for Greek banks, a source told Reuters.
Europe's main bourses followed Asia and Wall Street higher. In early trade the FTSEuroFirst 300 index of leading European shares was up 0.5% at a fresh seven-year high of 1 511 points, and Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 6 921 points, its highest since January 2000.