European stocks close: stocks closed mixed on the Greek debt crisis and as investors focused on the forum in Portugal

Stock indices closed mixed on the Greek debt crisis and as investors focused on the forum in Portugal. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande met yesterday. The Greek spokesman, Gabriel Sakellaridis, said today that a deal between Greece and its creditors should be reached within the next 10 days.

According to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Eurozone officials are considering to extend the current bailout until the end of October. A decision on this matter will be taken at the beginning of next month.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble denied reports today that he said Greece needs a parallel currency.

Earlier today, news reported that Schäuble raised the possibility that Athens may need a parallel currency alongside the euro in case its talks with creditors fail. He should have cited the example of Montenegro, which uses the euro but isn't a member of the Eurozone.

German Ifo Institute released its business confidence figures for Germany on Friday. German business confidence index slightly fell to 108.5 in May from 108.6 in April, beating expectations for a decline to 108.3. It was the first decline since October 2014.

"The German economy remains on track," Ifo President Hans-Werner Sinn said.

The European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said in Portugal today that Eurozone's is brighter today than it has been for seven long years".

"Monetary policy is working its way through the economy. Growth is picking up. And inflation expectations have recovered from their trough," he noted.

Indexes on the close:

Name Price Change Change %

FTSE 100 7,031.72 +18.25 +0.26 %

DAX 11,815.01 -49.58 -0.42 %

CAC 40 5,142.89 -3.81 -0.07 %