Market nerves over euro strategy

 

World stock markets have fallen on fears that eurozone leaders are divided over how to tackle the debt crisis.

After a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Frankfurt, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was reported to have said that the two countries were at odds over a rescue plan.
London's FTSE 100 index fell 1.4% while German and French markets also fell.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called on leaders to reach a deal.
Mr Barroso said there would be "a positive result if all maintained a sense of compromise".
Earlier, Asian markets had fallen, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index down 1.8% and South Korea's Kospi ending 2.7% lower.
President Sarkozy had travelled to Germany for talks with Mrs Merkel, IMF director Christine Lagarde, outgoing European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet and other key officials.
He later returned to Paris, where his wife Carla Bruni had given birth to a baby girl.
Delayed summit 

The German government has been busy hosing down expectations that this weekend's eurozone summit will deliver anything more than progress, presumably so that investors don't defenestrate themselves on Monday morning at the blinding realisation that many of the currency union's structural flaws are not amenable to overnight remedies” 

The emergency talks were aiming to break the stalemate between Germany and France over how to increase the firepower of the eurozone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

Earlier this month, the two countries said they had a plan to address the debt problem and would give further details by the end of October.
But doubts have set in as reports emerged that proposals for the EFSF was still being discussed.
EU leaders will hold a summit on Sunday.
The meeting had been scheduled for 17-18 October, but was delayed because more time was needed to finalise a plan to give money to Greece and bolster debt-laden banks.