'Lot of work still to do on Greece', says IMF's Lagarde

Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, said there was still a lot of work to be done before Greece and its creditors could reach a deal.

"We are all in the process of working towards a solution for Greece and I would not say that we already have reached substantial results," the IMF managing director told German TV channel ARD.

"Things have moved, but there is still a lot of work to do.”

Athens, the IMF and the European Union have been locked in seemingly fruitless negotiations for months but Lagarde added she thought Greece would fulfil its commitments to its lenders.

However, the persistent uncertainty surrounding the country’s situation continued to weigh on the markets on Thursday, as investors struggled to find direction amid mixed messages.

“Whenever Greece is in crisis talks there is always a series of comments from different parties involved in the negotiations which contradict each other, and traders do not know who to trust,” said IG’s analyst David Madden.

“For the time being no deal has been reached, and the longer the talks go on without a deal being struck the more likely they are to drop stocks.”