Europe close: Stocks mixed amid Greek uncertainty

European stocks ended Tuesday’s session on a mixed note as the Dutch finance minister dismissed reports Greece had reached a deal with its creditors.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem shot down suggestions an agreement had been reached on the proposal creditors will submit to Greece’s authorities to unlock further aid for Athens, saying a deal was "not theoretically possible this week".

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that officials representing European institutions and the International Monetary Fund completed the draft of an agreement to unlock bailout aid for Greece after European and IMF leaders met in Berlin on Monday.

Athens needs to agree a series of reforms with its creditors if it is to unlock the €7.2bn in bailout money it requires to meet Friday’s deadline for a €300m payment to the IMF.

In economic data, figures released by Eurostat showed that inflation in the Eurozone rose to 0.3% on the year in May, beating the consensus estimate of 0.2%. The rise in consumer prices follows a flat reading in April and marks the first increase in six months, which should be well-received by the European Central Bank as it looks to avert a slide into deflation.

Separately, German unemployment fell by a seasonally-adjusted 6,000 to 2.79m in May, while the jobless rate remained at 6.4%, as expected. This marked the eighth consecutive monthly decline as companies increased hiring, with confidence in Europe’s biggest economies improving.

US factory orders declined for the eighth time in nine months in April, figures released on Tuesday showed. According to the Commerce Department, orders for goods produced in US factories fell 0.4% month-on-month in April, a sharper drop than the 0.1% analysts had expected.

Orders for products meant to last at least three years fell 1% in April, while orders for nondurable goods rose 0.2%.

On the corporate front, Saint-Gobain was in focus after the company said it was reinforcing its presence in Vietnam by increasing its shareholding in Vinh Tuong Industrial Corp.

Shares in Novartis snapped earlier gains after data showed that its secukinumab drug improves the signs and symptoms of AS disease activity through one year of treatment, confirming previous findings.

Elekta AB slumped after reporting annual earnings that missed forecasts and warning that sales will continue to decline in the first half of the next year.

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE advanced after HSBC Holdings recommended buying the shares, citing expected growth in the luxury goods sector.

In London, Wolseley rallied after it posted a 12.4% rise in quarterly revenue. British American Tobacco declined following news that it has been ordered to pay £5.5bn in a Canadian class action lawsuit. HSBC was in the spotlight amid media reports that it is planning to cut thousands more jobs across its global workforce as it tries to reassure shareholders that its focus on costs remains undiminished after a series of reputational crises.