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Greece rattles European stocks

Europe's equity markets slumped Friday on the final day of a Group of Seven finance meeting, dominated by festering concerns over Greece and pressure from the US and Japan to resolve the debt crisis.

Investors are increasingly worried that Greece and its creditors could fail to reach an agreement on reforms tied to its bailout and Athens could struggle to meet looming debt repayments next week.

In the eurozone, the CAC 40 in Paris plunged 2.53 percent to end the day at 5,007.89 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 30 tumbled 2.26 percent to 11,413.82 points.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies dropped 0.80 percent compared with Thursday's close to close at 6,984.43 points.

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"European equity markets remained under pressure during the last trading session of the month, as persistent concerns regarding Greece's economic stability and future weighed on market sentiment." said Myrto Sokou, senior research analyst at Sucden Financial Research.

The European single currency meanwhile firmed to $1.0971 from $1.0947 late in New York on Thursday.

While Greece was not officially on the agenda of the Dresden meeting -- which was preparing for a wider summit of G7 leaders starting on June 7 -- Athens' troubles dominated the talks.

"All parties need to move" in the Greek negotiations, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told reporters after the meeting wrapped up Friday.

"Everyone agrees that resolving this without crisis would be in the interest of everyone and the global economy," he said.

The governor of the Bank of Japan Haruhiko Kuroda warned of the consequences of a possible Greek exit from the euro.

"If for the first time a country leaves the eurozone, then it won't be the same stable monetary union as before," Kuroda told the business daily Handelsblatt.

- Markets 'rattled' over Greece -

Athens' coffers are near empty and the Greek government under Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said it has "no money" to make a series of repayments to the International Monetary Fund totalling 1.6 billion euros ($1.75 billion) that are due beginning June 5.

Athens is negotiating to unlock some 7.2 billion euros in bailout cash with creditors -- the IMF, the European Union and the European Central Bank.

While Greek officials have in past days expressed hope of a deal by Sunday given the looming payment deadline, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on Friday appeared to lower expectations by indicating that talks could go to the end of June, although he said a deal was close.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble meanwhile said "the positive reports out of Athens don't fully reflect the state of talks."

"European equity markets are rattled as discussions over Greece's finances rumble on," said IG analyst David Madden.

- Tokyo stretches winning streak -

Across in Asia on Friday, Japan's Nikkei chalked up an eleventh straight gain -- its best rally since February 1988 -- as the yen sat around 12-year lows against the dollar, while Shanghai extended losses following the previous day's hefty plunge.

Sydney jumped 1.12 percent and Seoul added 0.19 percent.

Shanghai -- which slumped 6.50 percent Thursday -- ended 0.18 percent lower after a volatile day that saw it swing from a 4.08 percent loss and a 1.69 percent gain. Hong Kong slipped 0.11 percent.

US stocks edged lower Friday after a revision of official data showed the US economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in the first quarter of the year.

The figures came in roughly as expected, showing a heavy drag from trade due to the West Coast ports slowdown, but consumer spending also was lower than originally thought.

Around mid-day in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.56 percent to 18,025.29 points.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.66 percent to 2,106.72 points, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 0.63 percent to 5,066.07.

burs-boc/hmn