London - Europe's main stock markets slumped on Tuesday, as Greece warned that it could run out of cash in two weeks with debt repayments looming, rising fears about its euro zone future.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index shed 1.69 percent to stand at 6,911.07 points in afternoon deals in London.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 tumbled 1.82 percent to 11,461.04 points, and the CAC 40 in Paris lost 1.14 percent to 4,971.07 compared with Monday's close.
"European equities are trading sharply lower... Extending yesterday's losses after Greece's increasingly dire financial situation is once again taking centre stage," said Markus Huber, senior analyst at brokers Peregrine & Black.
Greece was forced to tap into an emergency account to meet a debt repayment of 750 million Euros ($845 million) due Tuesday to the International Monetary Fund, a central bank source told AFP.
Athens thus narrowly averted a default that could have seen it crashing out of the euro, but warned that without a bailout deal with its EU-IMF creditors it faces another cash crunch in two weeks.
In foreign exchange the European single currency managed to rise against the dollar on some relief at Athens's payment -- trading at $1.1228 from $1.1154 late in New York on Monday.
Greece's new radical left government scraped enough cash together Monday to place the order for the repayment of 750 million euros after pledging to honour both its international and domestic debt obligations.
Greece won some support in the latest round of debt talks as it battles to keep itself solvent, but euro zone finance ministers have demanded more key reforms before they agree to release the final 7.2-billion-euro tranche of its EU-IMF bailout.
AFP
